


25 days of the Monolith

by Naumaxia



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: (Well sort of, :), Canonical Character Death, F/M, Fluffy rabbits?, Infinity Stones, Infinity War, Non-Canonical Character Death, OC’s parents are totally based on Grell and William from black butler, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Post-Thor: Ragnarok (2017), Pre-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Ragnarok, Sandwiches, but don’t stress most of it gets fixed, but still annoyingly charming, but who cares!, its an adaptation of Grell), loki is a pain, monolith, trans OC, which you probably haven’t read/seen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-01
Updated: 2018-11-09
Packaged: 2019-04-30 19:38:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 24,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14504076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naumaxia/pseuds/Naumaxia
Summary: To love Loki you have to be different, right? You have to be confident, or sassy, or have some magic power, or outsmart him, or simply be bad ass. And whilst the protagonist of this book may outsmart him once or twice, she’s mostly ordinary. Just a normal girl more interested in looking out for herself than busy falling head over heels for Loki. She’s so ordinary in fact, that it probably wouldn’t even be worth his time trying to play with her head, so why bother? Through a set of the strangest circumstances though, the two learn to put up with each other and actually become something akin to friends. But if Loki did decide he loved this plain and ordinary girl, would she believe him?





	1. Midgard: 1st Day

**Author's Note:**

> Hiyyyya! So I started ANOTHER fanfic. It’s set in between Ragnarok and Infinity War, which I know is impossible as about five minutes elapsed between the two, but pretend for the sake of the story that there’s actually a few years between them.  
> Enjoy!

There was fire; and there was betrayal; and at the center of it all, there was a Voice.  
Humans were amusing. At one point in his life, the more foolish part of himself had tried to rule them and their stupid little planet, and let’s just say it wasn’t the smartest decision of his life… what with it ending up with him in prison and eventually leading to his mother’s death. Yeah, that was not a fun experience and preferably not one he wished to repeat. If he had been given the option, he would rather he had never returned to this pathetic (or so he had thought) excuse for a realm. But things happen, and this was actually his second visit since that unfortunate occurrence. He wouldn’t be here if he even the slightest choice about it.  
But back to his first point. Humans are very amusing. Here was a girl sat on top of one of the most powerful substances in the universe and all she was doing was gazing off into the distance like the world hadn’t nearly ended over a hundred times during its existence. She seemed fairly ordinary, baggy sweater, hot chocolate in hand (this realm was far too cold even in May) and a very VERY fluffy rabbit sat in her lap. He wondered just how fluffy it was… if he could just touch it… he was sure it would solve all the mysteries of the universe. It twitched its nose.  
“Hey,” he pressed himself up against the glass of her kitchen window. “May I touch that?”  
“Gyaaaaaaaghhhh!” There was a brief moment where he thought that maybe this would all pass by and she would calm down and let him in (and maybe he could stroke the rabbit?). Then she jumped as the reality of the stranger standing outside her house hit her, she dropped the mug, stumbled backward straight into the edge of the rabbit run. There was some frantic arm waving before she toppled over the edge and a dull thwack sounded as her head hit the polished wood floor. The rabbit, scared for its life, scurried back inside the hutch.  
He sighed and bust the lock open on the backdoor before staring pointedly at the unconscious body, like he could encourage it to move itself. But no, it stayed semi lifeless on the floor, with rabbit poop now stuck in its straw coloured hair, and he was forced to lift it up and bundle it onto the sofa all by himself. He sighed again, then shrugged and got himself a drink from the fridge.  
“And this,” he said to himself, “is why I would rather stay away from this realm.”  
———  
Slowly the girl blinked open her eyes. The sun seemed unreasonably low in the sky, and although her memory was foggy she knew that even she had never slept in past one thirty before. She was also on the kitchen sofa. She couldn’t fall asleep on sofas! Or in cars or airplanes for that matter… so she sat up and looked around. Then her eyes landed on him, crouched on the other side of the rabbit pen fencing. She wanted to act calm and controlled, and let her teeth sink into her tongue in the hope that she could stop herself screaming.  
“YOUCH!” She yelled, feeling sure she could taste blood in her mouth. “That hurt! Damn, you son of a bitch, that *bleep* hurt, you *bleep* *bleepidy* *bleep* *bleep*!”  
“Woah,” the cause of all her panic and anger laughed, a slight smirk glancing across his face. “Calm down, or as I’m sure I’ve heard that girl of Thor’s say, ‘chill’.” He slowly stood up brushing the hay and sawdust from his weird-ass space trousers. He wasn’t quite the pasty dark-haired serial killer she had thought when she had first seen him. He was tall, probably over six foot, and although his hair was dark and greasy and all things suspicious looking, he had a kind face with only partially sharp features suggesting he wasn’t quite as nice and sympathetic as he seemed.  
“Just who the hell are-“ she stopped suddenly mid-sentence. “Did you touch my rabbit?” there was a deadly look in her eyes, or at least she hoped, as she considered the possibility. No one touched her rabbit!  
He ignored her and grinned instead. “I am Loki, of Asgard.” He said, “but I have heard that it is not customary to declare your homeland here.”  
“Oh, Loki,” she said, resolving that now might be a good time for that cool and refined front she’d tried earlier. “I’m Annie, of England, Planet Earth.” Annie smiled amicably at him. “Nice to meet you.” She held out her hand to him and he took it. Then she yanked him forward, aiming her free fist at his overly large forehead. She wasn’t sure about the exact rules regarding attacking unarmed citizens, however she did know, that if this man was who he said he was, and he certainly looked like it, then he was a mass murderer who tried to take over the earth, and certainly not a British citizen. And he broke into her house so he probably deserved it. Just as her fist was about to make contact with his smug little face, he grinned that annoying cynical grin of his before  swiftly dodging it and twisting her around to pin her against his own chest. She struggled against him, aiming a kick at his shin, but to no avail.  
“Nice to meet you too,” he cackled, before letting her go and ignoring the series of glares shot in his direction. “Now, what’s a demi-god got to do around here to get something to eat?”  
“There’s only one god, and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t dress like that.” She laughed opening the fridge and pulling out a few packets of ham and cheese.  
“Actually there are hundreds of gods.” He said, eyes closely following her as she picked up a butter knife from the nearest draw. “Although I am probably the only one on the Earth at this current time.”  
“It was a Captain America quote. Although now I think about it he said it to Lucia Johnson not you.” Annie said almost sheepishly, although she seemed to try ignore it for fear of showing weakness to this sort-of-stranger in her house. She also neglected to mention that Lucia Johnson was just a TV reporter in the hope to gage his reaction to her knowing the group of people who kicked his godly ass a while back. “Sandwich?” she asked.  
“Sure…” he nibbled suspiciously at the edges of it for a while. “How come you know of my brother’s little mortal friends?” Loki asked after a few moments consideration.  
Annie wasn’t exactly sure how to respond. She didn’t know any of the Avengers, no one even knew how to get in touch with them these days. If she lied and he didn’t believe her then he would know that he could get away with almost anything he wished, and she was pretty certain that he could always tell whether people were lying to him. However if she admitted that she had never met them and hadn’t got a clue as to where they were, then although she could threaten to call the police, she would have no real way of stopping this man from hurting her or her family, and since he was a known mass murderer that was kind of a big issue.  
“My sister, Rosie, has a close friend who is a descendant of the Captain.” She lied. “I’ve only met him once in person, but he said if her or her friends ever needed anything he’d be happy to help. And I doubt SHIELD would be happy to learn of your presence on Earth.”  
“Quite right,” Loki said, eyes scanning her for… something. “So I would prefer it if you refrained from contacting them. I think we have already established you are no match for me.”  
“True,” Annie laughed. “although I’m afraid I can’t do nothing unless I know why you’re here. I’m not afraid to fight you to the last if you’re planning on taking over the world again.” It was a petty statement, nothing but a heroic mask for her to wear as if she was some dumb stereotypical character from a book. She had always wanted to be a novelist of some sort but always had issues with plot points.  
“Heroic.” He mocked, echoing her thoughts. “You’re confident for a human. That usually annoys me.” He said.  
“Thank you?” She said, only half insulted.  
“I am in a rather good mood though,” he commented, finally giving up on his sandwich and tossing it aside. He simply could not stomach foreign food. “So, I will tell you why I am here, Annalise of England.” He wasn’t smirking anymore, but began pacing the room. She resisted the urge to ask how he knew her full name as he continued, “I am currently hiding from my troublesome brother. We had a little dispute a while back, which I don’t particularly feel like talking about, and it unfortunately lead to my presence here. He has powerful allies and it just so happens that there is an ancient Aesir artefact which I believe has the power to completely cloak anyone’s presence. That is why I am here. Trust me I would not have returned to this Garbage you call a planet otherwise.” Clearly done with talking, he sat down dramatically on the sofa and propped his boots up on the arm of the chair. Annie grimaced at this, but felt that reprimanding someone like Loki would not be well received.  
“Ok,” she said calmly, tidying away a half empty glass of water that she had suddenly noticed lying around the house. “That’s good to know.” She sat down on the opposite sofa and a silence elapsed between them. It wasn’t that Annie didn’t want to ask questions, heck she had thousands of them, but once again she felt like the personal questions she had in mind wouldn’t be taken all that well.  
After quite a while of Annie scrolling through Instagram, utterly bored of the silence, and Loki switching between lounging on the couch and pacing the length of the kitchen, the clock finally chimed to break the silence. Annie glanced up at the huge analogue clock perched on the wall, attempting to read the time, before giving up and looking down at her watch (blasted roman numerals) and realizing with a start that it was four o’clock already.  
“Loki…” She whispered her voice hoarse from the seemingly never-ending silence. “I don’t suppose you can turn invisible, can you?” she asked.  
“Perhaps,” he smirked. “What of it?”  
“Well if you can, then I suggest you get on with it.” She tried to smirk back but failed miserably. “My siblings will be home in about twenty minutes and if my parents manage to catch sight of you, not only will you be turfed out on your backside, but I’ll likely be grounded for the next year and a half for letting a creepy looking space stranger into the house.”  
“Firstly,” Loki said, less amused than he had been a minute ago. One of the first things Annie had noticed about him, was his mood tended to fluctuate a little unpredictably, and in the hour or so they’d had together she’d already learnt to tread carefully when he got this superior look in his eyes. “I would have you know that I do not appreciate being called creepy when I could easily blast you halfway across this realm. Also, although I am completely capable of turning invisible for any length of time I wish, even I do not possess the ability to sustain magic in my sleep. Besides, I do not believe that you possess any right to order me around. I am happy to kill this entire household if that is what is necessary to remain here.” he was back on his feet now, pacing the room in a manner so menacing that she half expected green flames to start shooting from his ears. Ok so maybe green ears wasn’t that menacing…  
“Go on then.” She said, looking him straight in his mischevious blue eyes. They were so cold… “Kill my Family. There’s no way that someone won’t notice that. I suspect you’ll have the Hulk on your heels within a matter of days.” She grinned at him.  
“Those statements were completely contradictory.” Loki commented, glaring at her some more.  
“It’s called sarcasm.” She laughed. “I forgot you space people don’t understand colloquial language.”  
“Please stop referring to me as a ‘space person’.” He grumbled sitting back down, usually a sign he was less likely to kill her. “I am a Prince of Asgard, I cannot possibly deserve this. I wouldn’t even be here if I didn’t have to be.”  
“Great,” She laughed, “Then how about you hurry up and vanish?”  
He Glared at her again, but did as she said and soon he was completely gone.  
“I appreciate your cooperation, space person,” she grinned. Then, “ouch!” She yelled as he whacked her lightly on the back of the head, obviously storming off somewhere.  
In the next few minutes Annie’s family returned in a flurry of school bags, and bright red coats. Siblings squabbled, her mother gossiped and her father rolled his eyes.  
“How was your day darling?” Her mother called, fixing her shockingly red hair in the mirror. “Utterly uneventful I guess?” She laughed.  
“Oh yes,” Annie mumbled. “As boring as any other day.”  
“Told you this revision was a waste of your time.” Her mum laughed.  
“C’mon George, we’ve been through this.” Her dad interjected. “Grades are exceptionally important and you know it.”  
“Georgina,” her mum mumbled, glaring at him.  
“I’m sorry love,” they smiled at each other and Annie took this as an opportunity to butt out of the conversation and disappear up stairs. It sure had been a long day...


	2. Midgard: 2nd Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two of them struggle to try and coexist in one place.

When Annie woke up the next day (at a perfectly ordinary time of half eleven) she smiled to herself. That dream she’d had about Loki could make for the beginnings of a great story. She mentally ran over all the events in her head before they slipped from her memory. What kind of story should she make it, though? An action or adventure story? Mystery? Maybe romance? When Loki wasn’t being all psychopathic and sadistic he was actually pretty good looking. Same kind of pathos appeal as Snape from Harry Potter too, only younger and with a much better nose. But she doubted something like that would be realistic. Annie had always been intrigued with stories of magic and the like (although she personally preferred the faeries and dragons type of magic) so when New York had been attacked a few years back she had scoured the Internet for any information she could find on Thor, Loki, or any of the Norse mythology. As a result of that information she could quickly conclude that making Loki a romance protagonist would be almost as difficult as writing herself as an action protagonist - her usefulness being akin to that of a sack of potatoes.   
By now she had made her way downstairs, both parents out at work again, checked up on the rabbits, guinea pigs and the dog which her brother had evidently fed before school, and opened the fridge, rummaging through it for something edible looking. Just when she had settled on the idea of eating sandwiches (again) she heard a noise behind her.   
“Ah finally awake! Is this the normal rising time in Midgard?”  
It was Loki. She glared at him for a bit. “I can get up whatever time I like.” She stated. “And yes, for the average teenager, midday is perfectly ordinary waking time.” She eyed him suspiciously as he ignored her and started taking food out of her hand.   
“Can I eat this?” He asked. “I wasn’t sure how annoyed you’d be if I stole it without permission, and I did swear to stay out of sight of your family.”  
“This must be a first then.” Annie laughed, having spent hours renewing her research on Loki last night. “I didn’t think someone like you ever kept their promises.”   
“Someone like me?” He quipped. “I believe you just insulted an entire race. Although admittedly the rest of the Jötun are somewhat more barbaric than I am anyway.” By now, Loki had not only helped himself to all the stuff Annie had fetched from the fridge, but had raided the cupboards and was eating happily through a tube of sour cream and onion Pringles too.  
“I only meant because you’re the God of tricks and lies.” She said, then as an afterthought added, “and by the way, those are Rosie’s Pringles. She will kill you if you eat them all.” He laughed and popped another one in his mouth.   
“I’m hardly afraid of a Midgardian child.” He said.  
“You should be...” she chuckled to herself. As a rule of thumb, she would rather face off against the alien army that invaded New York, and the avengers which managed to beat them, than risk angering her sister. As a matter of fact she needed to plot a way to deflect the current Pringle related blame from herself without revealing that Loki was presumably staying here.   
“Your Family are a little...” he grinned, “odd?”  
“Which one’s?” Annie laughed. “Personally I find my Brother the weirdest, but most people disagree.”  
“You are a strange bunch to say the least.” He commented, leaning against the counter and loudly crunching on another Pringle.   
“And your family aren’t?” She replied calmly. “I mean they’re demigods, they must be at least slightly strange.”  
“Well they are all blue.” He murmured, continuing with his annoyingly loud crunching.   
“Are they?” Annie suddenly asked, feigning surprise. “Last time i checked Thor was kind of... ordinary?”  
“He’s not my Brother.” Loki said firmly.   
“Fine then.” She replied smiling. “I have revision to do. Entertain yourself for a bit would you?” He frowned, but said ‘fine’ and marched off into the garden. Annie stretched, moved her hair out of her eyes and proceeded to fall asleep on the kitchen table, chemistry revision folder acting as a suitable pillow.   
Two short hours later she felt someone poking her, none to gently, in the arm and calling her name. Annie glared up into the face of the resident demigod and sighed.   
“I was having a perfectly nice nap you know.” She muttered, before pulling herself to her feet. “What do you want.”  
“I’m bored,” He yawned at her, before lounging on the sofa and beckoning her over.  
“Don’t you have your special little artefact to be looking for?” Annie called, grabbing the chemistry folder and pretending to actually absorb some of the information on the pages.   
“It’s somewhere in the garden,” he waved his hand dismissively at her, “but it will take me about a day to dig to it and I’m bored of that now.” He repeated. She elected to ignore this statement under the basis that she couldn’t do whatever he said forever, and wandered through to the next room, Loki frowning before following her reluctantly, not wanting to seem too dependant in her company. She disappeared behind one of the Kitchen Sofas for a while, then returned with a little ball of white fluff cradled in her arms, and Loki couldn’t help but smile. Only a little bit though.   
“Can I touch it?” He asked, as she sat down on the sofa and stroked the rabbit between its ears.   
“What do you think?” She replied, shooting him a look that could certainly kill someone.   
“I’m still bored,” he muttered, but eventually got up and paced the room, occasionally glancing back at the rabbit or murmuring the word “fluffy” to himself. After a short while the rabbit was placed back in its pen, and she guided the strange Alien who seemed to have taken up permanent residence in her house firmly from the room before returning to her ‘revision’.   
“You have so many adorable things on earth,” Loki commented. “It almost makes up for how awful all you humans are.”  
“Thanks,” Annie chucked a pen at his head to accompany her sarcastic comment. He caught it between two fingers and snapped it in half, scowling at her again. “We actually have a lot of animals in my house,” she said, partly to herself. “Mum and Dad never had pets when they were younger; Or parents for that matter, so they spoil us.”  
“I didn’t ask for your life story,” he retorted. He stayed a few more minutes on the sofa, before leaping silently to his feet and marching out. Annie smiled and rested her head back on the folder. Now for some peace and quiet...  
When she next woke up, it was to a flurry of people charging through the house. Loki was nowhere to be seen once again as her family grumbled their way up to their rooms and Annie packed up her revision before returning to her own.   
“I know you’re here,” she called as she opened the door. Soon she was met with that irritating smirk again as Loki materialised in front of her eyes. “I’ve been thinking,” she said as he walked across the room to lean against her desk. “What really is this artefacty thing you’re looking for? What does it do?”  
“The Monolith?” He asked, eyeing her suspiciously, “It’s a cloaking device as I mentioned before. It can completely hide an extensive area from any kind of detection. Not even the Gate Keeper on Asgard can sense it. It’s basically my ticket out of here.” He raised his chin at this, clearly thinking of what it would be like to escape the dull human world he was so sick of.   
“If that’s true, how come you were even able to find it?” Annie replied.   
“I read a lot,” he shrugged. “That and I had the good luck to find a map in one of Asgard’s deeper vaults a while back.”   
“Oh,” they elapsed into silence for a while.   
“Do you have any more of those weird crispy things?” He broke the quiet casually.   
“By ‘crispy things’ I assume you mean crisps? No.”  
“Damn it.” He glanced up at the ceiling. “I really can’t stomach foreign food, but they were rather nice.” The silence returned, feeling heavy in the room. Annie hated the silence. Despite the saying ‘it’s only awkward if you make it awkward’ she couldn’t help feeling out of place in the quiet.   
“Alright, that’s it!” Annie declared a short time later. “I’m going to bed, get out.” He left and she let out a small sigh, curling up to try process everything that had happened. Why was he such a difficult person to talk to? Why was everyone like that?! Why did he have to make her perfect (ish), lonely life so awkward?  
Why did he even have to be here?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (: ~ Ναυμαχια


	3. Midgard: 3rd Day

At eight o’clock the following morning Loki made the executive decision to chuck a book at Annie’s head. He was hungry, and did not intend to wait around until Midday again, normal rising time or not. She groaned and swatted it away before rolling her self back into a cocoon of duvets. Annoyed by this he sat cross-legged on the edge of her bed, and start pulling books and manga of the shelf opposite before systematically chucking them at whatever inch of her peeked out from under the covers until she finally yelled.   
“For goodness sake stop! I’m bloody awake now!”  
“Try acting like it then,” he quipped before leaving and taking a leisurely stroll down stairs. This time the Pringles were nowhere to be found, which came as a great disappointment to the Demi God, but he was happy to munch on some left over salad instead. Annie frowned at him and cooked some bread before eating that. Why someone would cook bread he doubted he would ever understand. Apparently it was called toast.   
By lunch time he was in a significantly pleasant mood. It had taken a while, and he’d had to remove most of the floor boards in Annie’s garden shed, but he had finally etched a tunnel that led deep enough into the ground that he could sense the stone. A few hours more... that was all that it would take.   
“Find your magic rock yet?” Annie called as he entered the room.   
“Unfortunately not,” he shrugged. “Entertain me for a bit.”   
“Busy,” she stated, for once appearing to actually revise.   
“Please,” He asked in a patronisingly polite tone. “It would be a great honour.” She let out a small burst of giggles.   
“What’s so funny?” He snapped.   
“You speak so Fancy,” she laughed lightly. “A Great Honour,” she mocked, taking on a Queen’s English accent.   
“I hate mortals,” Loki groaned preparing to storm off.   
“Sorry,” She was still laughing but her response seemed genuine. “How about I grab you a book? I’ll be finished with work in about an hour, then I’ll work out something to do.” She got up slowly, dragging her self to her feet and staggering up the stairs, pins and needles in one foot from the weird way she had been sitting on her chair. Loki sat and stared halfheartedly around the room, taking in the plain walls and ever irritating tick of the clock on the wall. When she returned she chucked a thin pink volume at his head, which he caught easily, smirking slightly again.   
“The Lioness And Her Knight?” He queried.   
“It’s one of my favourites.” She replied. “I think you’ll quite like the protagonist.” He eyed her suspiciously, but opened it and started flicking through it nonetheless.   
In less than half an hour he chucked it back, Annie clearly having much worse hand-eye coordination, letting it smack her in the face.   
“That was fast. What did you think?” She asked him.   
“Well you were right about the protagonist,” he admitted, “she was manipulative and witty which I like, but the ending was too soppy and the whole thing reminded me of home.” He said bluntly.   
“Home?” Annie asked, daring a personal question for the first time.   
“I’d rather not discuss it,” he rejected politely. “It is my fault after all that it burnt to a crisp.” Annie glanced curiously at him. He hadn’t blown up at her which was certainly something new, so far he’d either been furious or complacent whenever she was in his presence. Demure was a new personality altogether.   
“Is that why you’re running away?” She pushed.   
“No.” He replied bluntly. “Now, entertain me, I’m bored.” He commanded, leaning back.   
“Well what do you want to do?” She asked practically.  
“Well I would greatly enjoy stroking that fluffy Rabbit of yours.” He murmured.  
“No!”  
“Okay then,” he sat and thought for a minute. “Would you me on a tour of your pathetic little village?” He asked. “Who knows how long I’ll be here, I could do with getting to know the area.”  
“I’ll ignore the ‘pathetic’ for now,” Annie replied, glaring at him out of one eye. “But that doesn’t sound too bad, just maybe change into something less... spacy?”   
“Fine.”   
Loki’s choice of clothing actually wasn’t that bad. Her sister might have even deemed it stylish. Whilst his jeans and t-shirt were still black, he wore a green checked shirt over the top like a jacket and a pair of green converse, which managed to stop him looking too emo. He was still clearly Loki, and anyone who had seen the news over a year ago might manage to recognise him, but after forcing him to tie his hair back (partly for Annie’s own amusement) she figured the chance of him being arrested was minimal.   
Her village wasn’t that big, a small church and school in the village centre, and a nice canal side walk which the pair wandered down side by side. They actually found stuff to talk about too! Which obviously made the headphones and music Annie had brought with her in case of awkwardness a little pointless, but she really didn’t mind. Loki was charismatic and had a certain degree of personal charm making him more than easy enough to talk to when he felt like talking. They generally avoided topics like Asgard or the Jotün, or anything Loki related really, and mostly focussed on mundane things like exams and What little Annie knew of british history. But occasionally he would let her ask a question or two about him. Something generalised like weaponry or how spells worked. But Annie couldn’t help smile at the thought of him finally opening up a bit. Yes, very charming indeed. But then again, so were most other dictators and psychopaths. Loki killed 80 people in two days, you could never be too careful.   
That night when they got back, Loki decided to stay in his Midgardian clothes, claiming they were surprisingly comfortable, and Annie stole a few films from downstairs and brought them back to her room, letting Loki have his pick. He chose ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ and the two watched in companionable silence, Annie occasionally interjecting at her favourite points, usually spoiling the funny bits before they happened. But Loki shocked her as the first person who had never got annoyed by it, and occasionally let out a small laugh himself at her antics. When it was over he got up of his own accord and left her to sleep.   
“Make sure you’re awake on time tomorrow,” He called as he closed the door.   
“Oh shut it you.” She grumbled, smiling to herself anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gyahh! These chapters keep getting shorter, sorry!!


	4. Midgard: 4th Day

By some miracle Annie woke up just before Loki barged in that morning. She was just stirring when he picked up the first book to chuck at her, able to duck in time and yell at him to get lost.   
They actually tried cooking something that morning, Loki refusing to continue living on lettuce, but still reluctant to try anything overly processed. Somehow, Annie convinced him scrambled eggs was a viable breakfast and they set to work. In about three seconds flat there were egg yolks on the floor, shells littering the work surface and Annie’s sleeve may have set on fire just a little bit.   
“That’s it! I’m cooking!” Loki demanded, after watching her burn for a while, and then dousing the flames with a bucket of water whilst she screamed blue murder at him. In contrast, Loki could actually use a stove, and five minutes later they begin their hard earned breakfast.   
“It’s...” Annie began, not wanting to insult him.   
“This was SO not worth it.” He groaned, chucking what was left of his food down the sink, and heading for the back door. “I take it you’ll clean up?” He called, an impish grin painted on his face.   
“Bastard,”  
“I’m busy,” he said, closing the door behind him.   
“Only when it bloody suits you,” Annie murmured to herself before getting down on her hands and knees to start mopping up the water pooling in the middle of the floor. Then, back to revision. Although she’d had a free week so far, she did have her biology exam in a few days and it made sense to at least do some prep for it. An hour later she was bored again and laughed at her own lack of motivation, before getting up to go search the garden for Loki. He was bound to get bored some time soon anyway.   
She was right. Just as she reached the shed, he clambered out, shuttling the door firmly behind him.   
“Aww,” he mocked, “someone missing me?”   
“Hardly,” She retorted, crossing her arms defensively. “I was simply checking you hadn’t uprooted the whole garden. My dad cares about this stuff.”  
“Sure,” he smiled. “Want to go back inside?”   
“Ok.” Annie couldn’t help a side ways glance at the shed as they left. What was really going on down there...  
“Hey Loki?” Annie asked a little while later.   
“Yes?” They were chilling on the sofa in the Kitchen, the Rabbit sat happily between them as it munched on Loki’s jeans.   
“Tell me about Asgard.” She asked, aware he was in a particularly good mood today after she let him have a very small stroke of said rabbit.   
He laughed a bit puzzling over why she could possibly care about a realm so far from her own. Sure, he knew it was of some interest to these people who had never stepped outside Earth before, but there was something in her voice that connoted she didn’t care all that much about the geography of it, or the scientific explanation for portals in the like. In fact she had stated on several occasions that science was boring and the sooner she got it over with the better.   
“Well,” He said, “Asgard is a little like those books you gave me to read. You know, all the knights and courts and quests. We ride horses instead of driving cars, and any average day of the week I could guess where almost any member of the royal family or the staff would be. They were predictable like that.” He said with a little sigh. “Asgard is only one realm though, and every realm speaks in dozens of different languages like here on earth. I guess if I had to liken Asgard to a country, it would be this one as pretty much all the other nations learn how to speak English and yet you Englishmen can rarely speak more than two languages at best.”  
“Well I’m terrible at languages.” Annie made a ‘hmph’ noise and folded her arms. “It’s not my fault they’re so difficult. I’ve often thought someone should just create a universal language for all of us to make it easier on everyone.”   
He grinned and pulled a book out of his back pocket. “Maybe this can be your universal language?”  
“Asgardian for beginners?” She said skeptically, fingering over the tattered leather volume.  
“Relax, it was a simple jest.” He said watching as she examined the book with great suspicion. “Although you can keep it if you like, a little piece of Asgard just for you.”  
“Loki...” she whispered, and he took a moment to wonder whether he had upset her. She certainly seemed upset, staring blankly at the floor, the book gripped by her chipped nails. Then all the tension vanished from her body and she spun around, beaming, and wrapping her arms around his neck, nearly knocking him down from his perch on the back of the sofa. “It’s amazing! I love it!” She declared, and Loki smiled despite himself.  
“I thought you said you were terrible at languages?”   
“I am, I just...” She thought for a moment. “It was a really nice gift. Thank you.”  
“No problem.” He replied, seemingly unbothered by her sudden show of affection. “Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to back to the shed. I came across a slight problem earlier and wanted to try something on it.” She agreed to this and went off to her room to do whatever it was she did when he wasn’t there (other than revision and sleep that was) presumably she had had a social life before he showed up and trashed it. As he walked down to the bottom of the garden he almost felt something nagging at his insides. But it was probably just anticipation. Only a few more minutes and he could leave this hunk of rock for good.  
When he reached the hole the wooden board had been tossed aside. He ran through the possibilities of one of Annie’s siblings or parents having found it, maybe one of them had taken the monolith not knowing what it was. Cursing under his breath he jumped down and edged his way along the thin muddy tunnel he had built.   
The gasp he let out at seeing the stone perfectly intact ended up being somewhere between a sigh of relief and a maniacal chuckle. He had it, it was over.   
As he stepped into the road, monolith hanging from a chain at his neck, he glanced back at the house and realised with a start that he had grown rather fond of it. The thought alone scared him to his core. He was a trickster, the Prince of Lies, he didn’t form attachments. Not any more. Not really.  
That’s right, he didn’t form attachments. He laughed and shook his head, pulling the tesseract out from one of his seemingly endless pockets. He let its glow light up his eyes in a vicious Saphire, and used his spare hand to scrape his hair out of his face, returning to his ordinary princely attire. He held the cube out in front of him drinking in its power, ready to travel back to the rest of the nine realms.   
“Oh poor Loki,” Annie chuckled leaning against the now open front doorway, a disappointed and sarcastic frown painted on her face. “I guess the master of all tricks isn’t used to getting tricked himself.”  
“Oh Annie,” He said, letting the sadness almost reach his eyes for a moment. Then he grinned at her. Not the sort of grin he had been smiling more recently, where he had thought for those brief moments that he understood what his brother had always meant by happiness, but the grin he smiled just before he filleted someone like a fish and left them to bleed out on the floor. It was so easy to elapse back into that colder mindset, like talking to an long forgotten friend. “If only you knew, you simply can’t trick the master of all tricks.” He said rather proud of himself. “I’m aware you switched the stone last night. You think this is your fake, don’t you?” He stayed letting the gold chain dangle between his fingers, as the light he only found in deceiving people shone in his eyes.  
“Yes I do.” She said all too confidently. “It’s true, I made a papier-mâché copy of the stone, a poor imitation really, and you found it last night, and then searched the house for the real one. You found another stone in my nail varnish box. I was rather impressed with my own artistry on that copy.” She smiled sadly. And he blinked half in shock, half in frustration. With a soft thump, the stone in his hand fell onto the front lawn, his fingers loose at his side.  
“You lied to me.” He said. “How?”  
“I was planning to put it back today you know.” She said sadly, eyes focused on the fake between his feet. “I so badly wanted to believe that you wouldn’t leave... but then you gave me that book. A piece of Asgard just for me.” It was now he noticed the battered volume clutched in a sweater pawed hand at her side. “In Asgard I guess a gift is a sign of appreciation and trust, but here gifts symbolise thanks. They’re most commonly given to a host at the end of someone’s stay. It was how I knew you were going to leave with the stone after all.”  
Loki was stunned. It was a rare occasion for someone to succeed at tricking him this well. And certainly no one had ever got the better of him like this. He was almost speechless, he was so shocked. He was even a little impressed with this mortal. But mostly he was pissed as hell.   
“Aww, you really want me to stick around that badly?” He asked with a somewhat sarcastic bite to his words. “Did you think if you could just hide the stone from me long enough I’d decide to stay forever. This isn’t a romance novel you pathetic mortal! This is the real world.”  
“Nothing about this even remotely fits in the real world.” Annie deadpanned. “Magical artefacts, Norse Gods, none of you are meant to exist.”  
“Thank you,” he mocked. “For that incredible dismissal of my people’s existence! I’m honoured!” Annie sighed as he screamed at her. It had been so strange having someone around that she could talk to. Usually talking to people was so difficult, she never knew what they were thinking, but did a few short hours...  
“Of course I want you to leave.” She decided. “Most people on this planet hate your very guts! But I can’t let you go back to causing chaos in the universe and risk being responsible for even more deaths at your hands. So I’ll hang on to this until I decide what’s better,” She paused. “Calling Thor or calling the avengers.”   
Loki frowned and shoulder barged past her back into the house. Annie’s fingers closed tighter around the monolith. Damn that pious Demi god.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehe, I’m writing this wayyyy too fast right now. Hoping I won’t run out of steam. Please comment what you think of it so far!


	5. Midgard: Day 5

Friday was cold and rainy. Not unusual for Britain, but it seemed much worse when it reflected the moods of the only two residents in the house. Even Loki was unwilling to go outside in weather this bad and if he had there was hardly much point in it now.   
“Breakfast?” She offered, trying to lighten the mood at least a little. He ignored her completely, and turned to stare out at the rain, hands folded neatly behind his back. “I asked if you wanted breakfast.” She repeated hopefully. Still silent. “Loki-“  
“Shut up you insolent brat!” He spun around on his to snap at her. “I’ve said it before, I’m only here because I have to be, if I wanted your company I’d visit any random house on the whole of this stupid planet!” Then he sighed and marched out the room, purposely knocking her plate of toast off the counter. Luckily it didn’t break, but Annie was more distracted by the anger slowly coiling inside of her. It wasn’t her fault, she had only done what anyone would have. If he wanted things to go his way all the time, he shouldn’t have let himself become a mass murderer.  
Abandoning her toast, Annie slunk back up stairs to curl up and read for a while. In the middle of her floor sat both ‘Asgardian for Beginners’ and ‘The lioness and her knight’. She picked up the story and kicked the new language text book into a corner, before lying on her bed and flicking through her old childhood classic.   
Loki was sick. Sick of this place, these rooms, sick of having watched the same tv episode three times over since he had no idea how to change channel and the one he was stuck on was dull enough to make him want to pluck his eyes out with a fork. Of course he wasn’t planning on doing that, he prided himself on being one of the few members of his family to make it through his life with both eyes still intact, and he didn’t plan to change that now. But he was sick of this infinite boredom. He glanced out the window again, sighing at the never ending drizzle of rain, sincerely hoping a storm wasn’t about to start. Finally he gave up and climbed to his feet, before strolling up the stairs to go find his reluctant host.   
“Annie.” He said, trying to speak casually as she met him at the top.   
“I’m sorry,” she said. “Can we at least talk?”   
“Alright.” He replied, following her back downstairs to sit on one of the sofas.   
“I can’t let you go,” she said calmly, “I really wish I could, but it’s not fair to the rest of the world.”  
“What’s to stop me just killing you and taking the stone?” he asked, but not in a particularly malicious manner.   
“I’d call the Avengers.” She said bluntly. “If you tried to kill me I’d have no other choice.”  
“I reckon you’d be dead before you got the chance,” he chuckled, but once again didn’t make any move toward hurting her.   
“Well I’m sorry anyway.” She said, smiling slightly at him.   
“Can I have that breakfast now?” He asked, standing up.   
“Sure!” This time the breakfast making attempt went slightly better, consisting of a left over pie that they found in the fridge, which was supposedly less offensive to Loki’s taste than a sandwich. Pie for breakfast might seem a tad strange, but by now it was almost lunch anyway.   
As they were cleaning up, Loki not being a complete ass this time and helping, a thought suddenly stuck Annie.   
“Tomorrow’s a Saturday,” she groaned.   
“Well done,” Loki mocked. “You know the days of the week.”  
Annie laughed a little at this. “Now that I think about it, it’s kind of ironic that we fell out on Thorsday of all days,” Loki cringed. “Anyway, I meant tomorrow’s the weekend, my family will be here all day.”  
“Oh,” he shrugged. “Never mind, I’ll go for a walk or something.”   
“Sorry about that,” she replied. “But there’s just not much I can do about it.”  
“Don’t worry.” He smiled sadly. “I like watching you with your family, it reminds me of what my life used to be like.”  
“Used to be...” Annie started, but then shut herself up deciding that he could probably do without all the personal questions today.  
“I’m adopted.” He said bluntly. “I lived with Thor and his family for 1,500 years before they even told me.”  
“I’m adopted too.” Annie replied. “Although I’ll admit that my parents waited until I was closer to age 10 before they told me.”   
“How are you so happy then?” Loki asked, quite bewildered for a change. “You don’t belong with this family, so why do you always treat them like one? Trust me, I tried to rebuild my relationship with Thor but it’s pointless. Are you sure you’re even adopted at all?”  
“I promise I am,” Annie laughed. “I don’t know if you noticed but my mum was born as a guy.”  
“That’s not that uncommon in Asgard.” Loki murmured. “Shapeshifters and stuff...”  
“When I was told where I really came from,” she said, smiling at him as she leaned in the counter, “my mum said to me ‘it’s almost better to be adopted, because you know your parents chose to have you and want you in their lives. After all, you can’t say ‘no’ to keeping your own children around, but when you’re adopted it’s a choice.’ My mum was rejected by her own family so she always made sure we knew we were wanted.”  
“Well if you put it that way,” he said sighing. “Still, it doesn’t change anything in my case.”   
“I’m sure they don’t hate you as much as you think.” She reassured him, and he smiled gently at her.  
The doorbell rang, interrupting their moment of silence. Annie glanced out the window and spotted a car sat on the curb.   
“It’s not my parents...” she said slowly. The two of them walked to the door together, although why Loki followed her, she had no idea. When she opened the door she heard the demi god curse behind her then back slowly down the corridor.   
“Loki, exit this house now and keep your hands above your head.” The man at the door commanded. Annie didn’t recognise him immediately, but soon his cropped blonde hair and American accent triggered her memory.   
“You!” Loki hissed at her. “Why didn’t you tell me you called them!”  
“I didn’t.” Annie insisted. “I swear I did-“  
“It’s alright miss,” Steve Rogers said placing a hand on her shoulder as a silver haired companion of his appeared from round the corner, a gun pointed directly at Loki. “We’ve got you now.”  
“Outside, with your hands on your head.” The woman ordered again, still pointing the gun at him. With a slow and jaunty step Loki did as he was told. Smirking cockily at them.   
“Natasha.” He murmured grinning. “How’s Bruce doing?”  
“Shut up!” She said, tossing her hair back out of her eyes.   
“Well you did it!” He laughed, turning back to face Annie. “You sold me out, congrats. I almost didn’t see it coming.”  
“I swear I-“ she started but Steve simply shook his head at her.   
“Are you alright miss?” He asked. “Did he do anything to you?”  
“No.” Annie stared blankly at the ground as Steve and Natasha discussed the situation. “Loki, you could leave if you wanted to, couldn’t you?” She asked, her hands fidgeting in her pockets. It was so quiet that the other two almost didn’t hear her.   
“Perhaps,” he smiled sadistically again.   
Annie took a deep breath, prepared to take a step back and leave the super-humans to fight it out among themselves, when she felt something in her pocket.   
“Catch,” she called, chucking the Monolith across her lawn and watching as he casually lifted one arm to grab it, before vanishing in a flash of blue. Annie stood there and stared at the spot at which he had vanished from, suddenly returning to her senses, barely aware of the Avengers flying into chaos around her.   
“What did you do?!” One of them asked.   
“I’m not sure,” she said. “Why...” she whispered to herself. “Why would I...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tah Dah!!!! Welcome to the official end of part one (the first arc I guess) don’t worry 


	6. Midgard: 6th Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, part 2! Six months have passed since the first part, but other than that there’s littke to note! Enjoy!

‘Let old acquaintance be forgot  
And never come to mind,  
Let old acquaintance be forgot  
For the sake of Auld Lang Syne.’  
It was the first day of the new year, and not to mention Annie’s birthday, but she simply smiled tiredly at her family and clambered upstairs. Staying up until midnight was fine and all, but when she was tired Annie was fairly certain she lost all ability to socialise. As she curled up for the night she felt someone kiss her gently on the head.   
“‘Night, my little space traveler,” a voice said. For a moment it sounded like ‘him’, but as she lifted her head all she could see was the long red hair trailing down her mum’s back.   
“Good Night,” she whispered, partly to herself, partly in the hope he might hear her.   
Waking up that morning all thoughts of her annoying Raven haired companion were stricken from her mind as her brother grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her down the stairs to where the rest of the family waited. They really were a mismatched bunch. Her overly dramatic, fashionista mother, leaning happily against her strict business like father. Her brother and sister (who were actually each other’s cousins) sat side by side, squabbling over something, white blonde hair catching the early morning sun. Then Annie, sat in the middle of them as they fussed over her, probably the most ordinary person you’d ever meet. But she didn’t care, ordinary or not, her mismatched family were perfect for her.   
“Happy Birthday Darling!” Her mother exclaimed, kissing her gently on the top of her head, and probably leaving a horrible lipstick stain.   
“Thanks,” she grinned happily. The day went by like a whirlwind. Pancakes and presents at breakfast, followed by an endless stream of phone calls from her parents relatives. Next being dragged out the front door by a mum, desperate to find something trendy for her oldest daughter to wear. Obviously, her mum’s tastes were still a little extreme, and the kingfisher blue tailcoat she ended up with probably wouldn’t be considered cool back at School. But it was beautiful anyway and made Annie feel like a bit of a superhero, gold buttons gleaming in the sun.   
“Come on, let’s walk back by the canal!” Rosie insisted, the younger sibling having obviously invited herself in any trip with the word ‘shopping’ in the title. Annie shrugged at this and let herself be dragged along too. The canal side was quiet, most people not daring to venture out on the first day of the new year. In fact Annie had been shocked that there were even any shops open, but her mum did work in the fashion industry, so it was hardly surprising that she’d managed to pull a few strings. The canal was so peaceful, and Annie closed her eyes, imagining the breeze on her face, walking side by side with Loki, just talking about all the stuff she could never discuss with normal people from fear of boring them to death.   
“Are you even listening?!” She heard her sister demand, snapping her back into the present.   
“I- ah, yes?”  
“Thinking about your space guy again?” Rosie smiled knowingly. Despite best attempts to hide Loki from anyone in her ordinary life, the minute the Avengers (or what was left of them) had gotten involved, they had encouraged her to confess it all. She hadn’t been held to blame by them, Loki was an intergalactic criminal so it was almost none of their business what happened to him, but they had promised to be there if she needed them. In fact only a week later, the Captain has introduced Annie to Wanda, who apparently went through some similar stuff when it came to accidentally causing mass deaths. There was no evidence Loki had done anything since he was set free, but no one would be shocked if he had.  
“I am not!” Annie protested. “Honestly! My whole life doesn’t revolve around a guy I knew for five days.”   
“Whatever you say,” Rosie laughed.   
“I did hear he was particularly good looking,” her mum commented.   
“Oh shut it, you two!” Annie protested, still laughing slightly. It was a new year, she should really be moving on, but-  
“And to think you used to call me a Space weirdo.” A voice said. Annie’s eyes snapped up and she stared in slight shock at the man in front of her.   
“You see the guy in the green converse too?” She asked her sister warily. Rosie giggled and nodded.   
“He looks a bit too old for you...” her mum commented.  
“He’s 1000 years old,” Annie deadpanned. “He’s a bit old for everyone.”  
“Fair enough,” her mum replied, looking Loki up and down like she was examining a fine piece of art.  
“Well, go have fun with the mass murderer,” Rosie grinned, dragging their mum off in the direction of the house, despite her protesting fervently over it.  
“What the hell are you doing here?” Annie asked slowly.   
“It’s a long story,” Loki replied, nodding his head in that irritating manner which indicated he was unlikely to have any intention of letting her find out why. Then he chuckled to himself and said, “I’m happy to tell you over some dodgy Midgardian food though.”  
“Alright,” Annie nodded slowly. “Six months, you were gone for six months and you just show up here again.” She shook her head in disbelief. “You really are the most unpredictable being this world has seen so far.”  
“So food then?”  
“I guess...”  
They ended up finding a very dodgy pizza place, even by Annie’s standards, and sat in silence for a while as Loki stared very suspiciously at his food. Annie simply tried to think about anything other than the ever growing awkwardness surrounding them.   
“Do you reckon they sell Pringles here?” Loki asked after a while, and Annie let out a small smile.   
“Come on then,” she laughed, tugging on his sleeve and leading him to the nearest supermarket. “you know I’m a little shocked you’re still in normal dress.” Annie commented.  
“My brother says I usually dress like a witch so I felt the need to prove him wrong.” Loki grinned, and suddenly all that awkwardness was gone. Six months gone, just like that.  
“So why are you here?” She asked again a little bit later, as the demigod crunched happily on his own personal packet of Pringles.   
“Well after you let me go,” he said, leaning back to stare at her and probably gage her reaction, “I travelled happily across the galaxy doing the usual stuff. You know, causing mayhem and conning anyone rich enough to pay me, until I came across something...” his gaze went darker here. “There’s a great threat in the universe, and I’m worr- concerned about the people of Asgard. As much as I loathe to see him, I could really do with warning my brother.”  
“Ok...” Annie said slowly, trying to process this. “Then why are you back here, not busy doing your thing back on Asgard.”  
“I can’t,” He replied bluntly. “I need you to come with me.”  
“Wait... what?! Why?”  
“That’s not important,” he waved his hand dismissively, and considered eating another Pringle for a while. Then he looked across at her, and stared deeply into her eyes. “I can’t do this without you. The fate of the universe is in your hands.”  
“Ok...” Annie replied, trying very hard to look away. “Yeah,” She said suddenly. “No more Pringles for you.”  
“Wait no!” He yelled grabbing for the tube, but she snatched it away a few seconds faster, stashing it in her backpack.   
“Look I’ll consider it, but I’m not racing halfway across the galaxy for no reason.” She said pointedly. “I really have to go home now, you try not to get arrested whilst I’m gone.”  
“Fine,” he grumbled. “Oh, and Annie?”  
“Yes?”  
“Happy Birthday.” He grinned and vanished.   
“Wait how did you-“ she started, before sighing and heading back home. What a way to start the year.


	7. Midgard, Avengers Compound: 7th Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Realised that I never proof read my previous chapter so huge apologies for that! Hope it didn’t suck too much

Annie woke up to spot a tall and very irritating space person leaning against the opposite wall. He smirked at her, throwing a book up in the air and catching it again as a silent threat.  
“I’m up, I’m up!” She protested before he could do any real damage, or she ended up with a dent in her wall.  
“Well?” He asked. “You said you’d think on it.”  
“I did,” Annie sighed deeply. “I’ll do it. It’s not like I have anything better to do at the minute.” She nodded, consenting to his plan.  
“Thank you.” Loki said, seeming to mean it for once. “Come on, I have a ship parked in the garden, it’s a bit rusty, but it should do.”  
“You parked a ship in my garden?!” Annie exclaimed. “Really?”  
“What can I say?” He shrugged and headed for the door.   
“Wait,” she called. “Wouldn’t you rather use one of the Quinn Jet models. They’re probably better and faster than anything you’ve got.” She watched in amusement as his face screwed up in confusion.  
“Oh right,” he laughed sarcastically, “because the Avengers are just going to hand us a ship, free of charge.”   
“Well I know you are a hated criminal,” Annie smiled. “But I did steal the access codes to their air locker.”   
His eyes lit up and he smirked. “Let’s go!”   
As they approached the building Loki seemed to be a little on edge, eyes darting around as they headed towards the steel doors and dull greyness of it all. Annie pulled out the Pringles and chucked one in his direction.   
“You ok?” She called.   
“I’m just glad the Hulk is half a universe away right now.” He laughed nervously, although he seemed to be enjoying the risk none the less.  
“It’s fine,” Annie smiled. “If they try to kill you I’ll let you talk your own way out.”  
“Great,” he muttered, tapping his foot impatiently as Annie played with the door code to the main building. “Thanks for the support.” The door slid open and she led the way inside, completely ignoring his somewhat unhelpful comment.  
The corridors were mostly white, grey or glass, footsteps of two pairs of converse echoing as they hit the floor. Every now and then Annie would glance across at him and wonder what was going on inside that head of his. There had always been so many things she wanted to know about his past, his motives, the way his mind worked. How could this mischievous, yet charming person do so much wrong in the world and still make her trust him a little at the same time.   
“Why-“ she started, before shaking her head. “Never mind.”  
“Go on,” He said, tilting his head enquiringly to one side.   
“Why did you try invade New York?” She asked, squinting at him in the expectation of an outburst of some kind.   
“I felt like it,” he shrugged. “I wanted revenge on my brother, revenge on my father, a chance to be their equal and prove that I could rule.” He grinned. “And there he was, someone practically begging me to do it for him, with an army and everything all prepared. Of course then the hulk came in and beat the hell out of me ruining my perfectly orchestrated plan.” He laughed off his failure happily, fixing his hair with one hand.  
“You were scared.” Annie murmured, before realising what she’d just said and clamping her hand over her mouth. One thing she did know, was that demigods hated being told they were weak or ordinary.  
“What makes you say that?” He asked, a hint of venom entering his voice as he eyed her carefully.  
“You say you did it in revenge... and to prove yourself to your family...” Annie repeated slowly. “But that doesn’t add up. You can’t want them to be proud of you and try hurt them, it’s simply not possible. So to me...” she glanced over at him again, “it seems like you’re trying to come up with your own motives to convince yourself you aren’t just a pawn of whoever gave you that army.”  
“That’s an interesting analogy,” Loki replied. “But I’m afraid it’s flawed, we’ll leave that conversation there now.”   
“Alright,” Annie agreed, handing him another Pringle as a peace offering of sorts. He really was curious, like a caged predator, trapped inside the confines of morality and humanity, but enjoying himself the whole time despite it. He held himself up tall, like the king he thought he was, but still had a slight irregularity in his step suggesting the confidence of one who truly believes things will go there way. Annie shook her head again, concentrating more in where they were going, through a couple more metres of plain-ish corridor and then she stopped abruptly.  
“Here,” she murmured, reaching what looked like a garage door, with another code as next to it. “3...6, 8, 22, 59.” She murmured to herself. “There we go,” the door slid open, lights still off inside. “After you,” she grinned, gesturing for Loki to head in.   
He nodded courteously at her, a curious look painted on his face, and took two long strides into the room.  
“Annalise, how do you-?” He asked fumbling on the wall to find the light switch. “Annie...” he stared in slight disbelief as a shiny translucent barrier descended between them, and the lights flew on to reveal an empty room. An evil grin spread slowly across his face.   
“Sorry,” she stared at him a little dejectedly. “I had to make things right again.”  
“You are a tricky one,” he laughed, glaring with that mischievous glint in his eyes. “If you were planning to lock me up the whole time, why ask me about New York?”   
“I wanted to know who I was really locking up.” She said simply.  
“So that’s your decision,” he leaned happily against the cell wall, “I’m the criminal you were always told about. The murderer you were raised to hate. Heh, I’m even getting a small sense of deja vu here.”  
“I-“  
“No, go on,” he glared at her. “I didn’t exactly pretend to be anything else. I warned you I could kill you at any point!”  
“You are something else,” she said quietly, eyes fixed on the floor to avoid his poorly disguised pained expression, “but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t pay for your crimes.”  
“I already paid! I did two years in a prison cell and died a hero’s death!” He hissed. “I’ve saved more people than you have spoken too, but I’ll always be nothing more than a villain.”  
“I said I was sorry,” she murmured, pulling her phone out of her pocket. “Wanda,” she said, a business like calm settling over her as she closed her eyes and tried to pretend he didn’t exist. “It’s Loki, he came back, he’s here.”  
Loki scoffed slightly at this.   
“No I’m serious. You have to believe me.” She said. “Just get here as quick as you can, he’s here. I have him locked in the...” she turned and stopped. He was gone. How was gone...? He had been right there! He had taunted her and made fun, but he was there wasn’t he? He had been there...   
“Annie?” Wanda’s voice echoed down her phone. “Annie are you there...?”  
“Wanda... I think I’m going mad.” She whispered. She’d heard stories of the scientist Dr. Selvig who had got in the way of Loki before and then had the god haunt his mind. Was that all that was happening? Was Loki just inside her head...?  
“Stay where you are, I’m coming.” Wanda replied, trying to sound reassuring, but Annie didn’t respond.   
She hung up, and felt her knees buckle beneath her as she sank to the floor. This wasn’t what was supposed to happen. He wasn’t supposed to have come back. He wasn’t supposed to exist. But he did. Didn’t he? DIDNT HE?! Loki was real... she knew he was real...  
When Wanda finally found her she was curled up, trying to stop the nerve wracking shivers that ran through her body. Broken sobs escaped her lips and she tried to take a deep breath, only to choke on it.   
“He was here.” She whispered, “I swear...”  
“Hey,” Wanda placed a hand gently on her shoulder. “It’s all ok. I’ll call Steve. I-“  
“You don’t get it!” Annie snapped. “It was so real. He’s inside my head, someone must be... someone has complete control of me and I-!”  
“Shhh.” Wanda pushed some of the hair back out of Annie’s face. “I can’t sense anyone in your head but you. You aren’t crazy I promise.” She said, trying to smile reassuringly. “Here, how about we take a look at the security footage. Then at least we’ll know what we’re dealing with.” It seemed a reasonable idea.  
“Ok.” Annie nodded slowly.   
The two got up slowly and sat silently in the centre of the compound, coffee mugs clutched in hand whilst they waited for Steve to show up and access the footage for them. Not that Wanda didn’t have access to it herself, she just wasn’t enough of a tech nerd to work the computer properly without breaking it.  
“Wanda?”  
“Yes?”  
“What if it turns out I am mad?” Annie asked quietly, honestly terrified of the answer.  
“Then I will do everything in my power to fix you.” Wanda replied, reaching out to take Annie’s hand. “You are never alone, remember that.” Annie let a small smile escape her lips.   
“Thank you,” She replied.   
“Sorry, Steve unfortunately couldn’t make it,” a voice said, as Vision floated through the wall in all his techy glory. “Something about a nuclear crisis over in the Middle East. Hopefully I can help.”  
“You never will learn to use doors,” Wanda murmured under her breath with a grin, before debriefing him. He smiled back at her, and asked a few obvious questions, before the three gathered around a laptop as he rifled through the files.   
“There.” Annie called, spotting herself, blue coat and all, walk into the frame. Vision paused it and she took a step back. “I can’t see him.”  
“Play it forward,” Wanda urged, three pairs of eyes scanning the scene. There was still nothing. “Vis, open up the footage from the heat cameras,” she suggested.   
“That won’t work,” Annie murmured, fear starting to show in her voice. “He’s one of the Jötun. According to lore they’re cold blooded, he wouldn’t show up.”  
“Wait.” Vision pointed at the spot right next to her on the screen. “There, can you see it. By the radiator,” what should be a patch of heat vanished momentarily then reappeared as Annie walked past it. “That could very well be him.” Vision said.   
All three sat in silence for a while. Replaying the tape until they were certain nothing else could be gleaned from it.   
“You can stay here tonight if you wish.” Wanda offered.   
“I think I’ll be ok...” Annie smiled at her. “I’d rather be at home anyway.”  
“Are you sure?” She said. “If Loki is still out there somewhere... Just promise me you won’t do anything crazy.”  
“I promise.” Annie smiled. “I’ll call you if anything happens.”  
“Alright, be safe!”


	8. Midgard - intergalactical: 8th Day

“I’m not mad,” Annie whispered quickly to herself, eyes squeezed shut. “I’m not mad, I’m not mad, I’m not mad.”  
“Annalise?” She looked up, glared suspiciously at him, and chucked a book at his head. He caught it easily before throwing it back.  
“Goddammit.” She muttered.   
“Sorry,” Loki grinned maniacally at her. “But you can’t get rid of me that easily.”  
“I hate you.” Annie replied bluntly, leaning back and chucking a pillow at her pen face in despair.  
“You’re an impressive mortal,” he said, taking up his usual position of leaning against her desk. “But I’m proud to say that I’ve never been tricked by the same person twice.”  
“I still hate you.” She grumbled, turning away.  
“Really?” He laughed. “Wow, you sound just like my brother. Anyhow, ready to go?”  
“Go Where...” then the realisation dawned. “Nah ah! Nope. Not happening.” She protested.   
“It’s the fate of the universe Annalise.”  
“Why should I have to protect the universe?” She asked practically. “That’s what super dudes like you are for!”  
“Well you live in it,” he replied, a huge grin plastered on his face. “You can’t make us do all the heavy lifting.” He pauses and watched her ignore him some more, before whispering right in her ear. “Fate of the universe.”  
“You’re probably lying.” She said bluntly. “Chances are the world is fine and you need me as a human sacrifice or something.”  
“Not that that doesn’t sound thrilling,” he joked.  
“Tell me what’s really going on? What is so wrong in the universe that you need a pathetic mortal like me to help you.” She asked. “Then maybe I’ll consider it.”  
“If that’s really what it takes for you to trust me, fine.” He agreed.   
Apparently after New York a lot of stuff had happened, mostly including some dark elves, relics and the death of Loki’s Mother (which he mostly skipped over) but more importantly was the death of Odin. Now Loki had clearly never cared much about his father, but when the 5000 year old king of a magic planet dies, some stuff tends to go down. The resurrection of your evil elder sister for instance. Long story short, Asgard blew up (so technically yes, Loki did disintegrate it) destroying Hela along with it. After that, what was left of the Asgardian race had intended to come to earth, but stopped for resources at a seemingly deserted planet. When they got there Loki had supposedly passed out, and when he awoke his brother had accused him of treason and tried to banish him. They’d fought, and when the Hulk had allied with Thor, Loki had fled.   
“And we were finally getting along too,” Loki finished, smiling sarcastically to himself.   
“I’m sorry,” Annie murmured, deep in thought. “I actually believe you too. But why do you need me?”  
“Because I’m going insane,” he replied casually. “Ever since Thor banished me there’s been this voice in the back of my head urging me to destroy everything in my sight, and you probably know that I hate being ordered around. It gets weaker the further I get from that blasted planet, but it’s always there.” He grimaced slightly. “Except when I’m here. At first I thought it was the Monolith, but the moment I left it was back. So I thought it might be the place instead, but no. It’s you. And I hate being dependent on a pathetic mortal child like you but it would appear there’s no way around it.”  
“That’s not possible...” she murmured. In slight shock.  
“Here, take this.” He chucked the Monolith at her, “so you know that I can’t afford to go anywhere with out you. A sign of trust.” She ran her fingers thoughtfully over the stone before hanging it around her neck.  
“And this threat, what does he want with the world?” She asked, trying to process everything she’d just been told.   
“I’m not sure, and that makes him dangerous.” Loki said, for once seeming serious. “And as much as I’m reluctant to aid my brother, as King of Asgard he knows more about what He is looking for than anyone else. If I don’t warn him Asgard will be wiped out, and I...”  
“I get it,” Annie smiled at him, “siblings are a pain.”   
“They are when they can electrocute you at the snap of their fingers.” They both laughed a little at this.   
“Let me make a call,” Annie sighed standing up.   
“You better not get me imprisoned again.” He chastised.   
“Oh shush” She flicked quickly through her contacts list before lifting her phone to her ear, and balancing it against her shoulder, simultaneously grabbing anything within reach and shoving it into a Naruto themed backpack. “Hi, Wanda?” She called when someone finally picked up.   
“Sorry, she’s a little preoccupied, we all are.” Came the response.   
“Nat?”  
“Yeah,”  
“Look, can you give her a message from me?” Annie asked, now rifling through her wardrobe. She paused picking up her new coat. Then she grinned and pulled it on. “Tell her, that I did exactly what she told me not to, and chances are I won’t be able to get in touch anytime soon.” She paused for a minute. “Scratch that last bit, chances are I’ll be abandoned on some frozen planet by morning.” She hung up.   
“You never cease to... unnerve me.” Loki murmured.   
“I will come with you, but you have to swear you’ll bring me back.” She said, pointing a finger directly at his chest.   
“I swear,” he replied, although his eyes betrayed him, showing he had reverted to his usual carefree attitude.  
“Never mind,” she shook her head and walked downstairs, stumbling into the path of her father as she went. “Dad...”  
“I thought this might happen.” He sighed. “You chose this?” He asked, indicating to her packed bag.   
Annie took a deep breath, “I did.”   
“And you trust him?” He asked, nodding at the top of the stairs, where Loki was waiting, invisible to the human eye. Annie grinned.   
“Not in the slightest.”  
“William,” a voice called, her mum. “What’s going on?”  
“Our daughter’s growing up,” her dad replied. “She’s off to save the world I assume. Even got that ridiculous coat on, makes her look a bit like one of those heroes.”  
“Annie...?” Her mum looked up at her and she smiled sadly. “Just, don’t die somewhere off in space. Promise me. Come back to me in one piece.”   
“I’ll be fine.” She lifted a finger to wipe away a tear running down her mum’s face. “Look after Rosie and Jem whilst I’m gone?” She asked.  
“Of course darling,”   
“Oh, and my rabbit?”   
“Of course,” her dad laughed. “Go have fun!”   
She smiled almost sadly, then gave them both one last hug, before passing them and heading out into the garden.   
“How touching,” Loki chimed in once they were outside. “We could have just brought the rabbit with us.” Annie rolled her eyes at him and kept walking.  
“Are you really telling me you never miss your family?” She asked half heartedly, knowing his answer. “Not even a little bit.”  
“I miss them every day.” He said quietly, looking down at the ground.   
“Loki...” she whispered.  
“Don’t push it,” he murmured, then his face lightened up again. “Now,” A flash of green shone on the grass as a somewhat rusty looking ship materialised in front of them.   
“Are you sure this thing can even fly?” She asked him, dubiously.   
“Shut up and let’s go.” He groaned, opening the door and giving her a gentle push in. “If we get out of here without dying I reckon it will be my greatest success this week.” He grinned.   
“I don’t even want to know what else you’ve done this week,” Annie sighed, flopping into the co-pilot seat and buckling herself in. “Please tell me you can actually fly.”   
“Of course I can fly.” He grinned again as he sat down. Annie couldn’t help but notice the way his seat ever so slightly resembled a throne, with gold plating on the arms and back. “How do you think I got here?”  
He started the ship up and Annie gripped the seat nervously. The whole craft was shaking, and a glint of madness shone in Loki’s eyes as he manoeuvred the ship into the air. As it gained altitude and speed the shaking got worse, and Loki’s grin got wider.   
“Here we go,” he laughed.   
“Loki...” Annie paused and looked out the window. “Loki the plane!” She yelled as they had a near encounter with passenger plane, and she was fairly certain something snapped off their own vehicle.   
“Almost there.” They really we’re gaining speed now. Annie closed her eyes and prayed silently to whatever forces there were in this world that she wouldn’t die.  
Suddenly everything slowed down, and Annie carefully peeled her eyes open. Space was beautiful, she had to give it that much. An endless blanket of darkness stretching out for miles in front of her.   
“Woah,” she whispered.   
“We made it,” Loki smiled. “I felt sure this ship would tear itself to pieces.”  
“Why you-?!”  
“Kidding.” He laughed, getting up to wander around the cabin, fiddling with different nobs and toggles, all of which appeared to do nothing. “Thank you.” He said. “For coming all this way.”  
“De kjan nalcht mir heunir.” Annie replied, grinning at him. “We still have a long way to go.”  
“Did you just-?” He tilted his head to one side, seeming almost shocked.  
“I said ‘don’t thank me yet.’” She reiterated. “I assumed since you grew up in Asgard you could speak the language.”  
“I can...” he replied. “I wasn’t aware you could...”  
“I’ve been practicing,” she stated simply, pulling the book from her bag.   
“You were holding out hope that I’d come back all this time.” He murmured. “How sweet.”  
“Don’t mock me.” She folded her arms. “How much further to where ever your brother is?”  
“About two days to what I think they decided to call ‘Neo Asgard’.” He shrugged. “But who knows, I might take a detour if the mood strikes.”  
“If Thor doesn’t kill you when we get there I swear I will.”   
“I apologise.” He said. “I do appreciate the sentiment. I know you said languages were difficult for you.”  
“Your still mocking me, aren’t you?” She asked.   
“Perhaps?” He smiled and picked up the book. “De bijin merd schonil al Frijin.”  
“I don’t know what that means.” She said bluntly.   
“That’s probably for the best.” He grinned. “I’ll drive tonight, go to sleep somewhere. Your pathetic mortal body looks like it needs it.”   
“I hate you,” she murmured, closing the door to the back compartment of the ship.   
“I know...” he said quietly to himself once she was gone.


	9. Intergalactical: 9th Day

It was strange to wake up on a ship in mid-space, no sunrise to greet you. Annie couldn’t help but think what would happen to most teenagers on this ship. If there was no midday to sleep in till, what would they do? Smiling slightly at the thought, she got up and headed through to the driver cabin, expecting to find Loki waiting for her. For some reason though, it was empty. She had to assume he’d gone to sleep or something, and instead of risking waking a demigod, pulled out a note book and started jotting down ideas. It had been an age since Annie had written anything, her literary creativity constantly haunted by Loki’s face. But here there were so many ways to describe what she could see that plot lines and characters no longer seemed relevant. It was somewhat ironic, that her being on this ship was intended to cure Loki’s madness, but really it was bringing to light her own. For about an hour, she wrote like someone possessed, infinite possibilities scrawled across her page until finally she noticed a shadow standing over her, and laid the pen down.   
“I forgot you were an author.” Loki commented.   
“I’m not really,” she shrugged. “It’s much more of a hobby.”  
“You should be. You have a good taste in characters and story elements. You can tell which moments change a person forever.” He looked at her thoughtfully for a minute.  
“Thanks, I think?” She said.   
“No problem.” Loki sat down next to her and stole a piece of paper from her pad, scribbling earnestly on it. “So what have you been up to whilst I was gone?” He asked. “you certainly got friendly with your new super buddies.” Annie couldn’t really tell, but there seemed to be a touch of spite, or perhaps jealousy in the way he referred to them. She put it down to him having his ass kicked by them a few years back.  
“Well, I’ve not done much really.” She replied. “You know, just let a war criminal escape, realise that I’m an idiot, feel the crushing weight of all the lives said war criminal has taken since I let him go, and then panic a touch.” He raised one eyebrow at her. “Technically you were handed back to Asgard when you destroyed the world so I haven’t been incriminated for letting you escape, but Earth doesn’t exactly have a support system available for those suffering emotional trauma at the hands of super beings. The Avengers were all that was left to me, and they said if I ever needed them they’d protect me.”  
“Protect you?” He asked, “from what?”  
“From You.”  
“Ah,” he paused trying to think of something else to say.   
“Besides, an alliance with them shouldn’t be that surprising.” She said. “I always threatened to turn you in when we first met. Now I have the power to actually do that.”  
“I guess so,” he climbed to his feet and leaned against the window, staring out at the abyss. “Still, you have to admit. I’m cooler than those Avengers guys.”  
“Really?” Annie laughed. “I guess you’re right. But hey, it’s not exactly hard. Vision is basically a glorified toaster, and he’s one of the strongest there is.”  
“I’m intrigued,” Loki smirked. “Do tell me more about this toaster.”  
“I don’t really know all the details,” she said. “But he’s a robot who’s got some magic stone from your sceptre in his forehead. I think Stark invented him.”  
“Only he would think to give an infinity stone to a machine.” He grinned. “And I suspect that idiotic American Captain is still busy enforcing proper manners over the things that matter.”  
“Can’t argue with you on that one.” She laughed and leaned forward to try get a better look at what he was writing, but he smirked and kept moving the paper away. He reminded her a bit of a three year old child, pointlessly guarding a secret.  
“I sort of miss them a bit.” He admitted. “We has some fun times until they nearly killed me. How are the rest of them? Whatever happened to Romanoff? I felt sure I’d emotionally murdered her at one point.”   
“She’s fine...” Annie took a slight step back at this. His enjoyment in messing people up still scared her a tad, despite knowing it was mostly in jest. “Better than fine in fact.”  
“She was fairly badass,” he commented, “for a girl that is.”  
“Well she can control the Hulk,” Annie mentioned. “Could probably best you in about... hmm, what was it? Seven seconds. I wouldn’t underestimate women so quickly.”  
He shivered involuntarily and glared at her. “Well as I said, Hulk is half a galaxy away, what could possib-“ he was cut off abruptly as the whole ship jolted to the left. Dashing for the control panel, he practically ignored her as she asked him what on Earth was going on. The ship jolted again, and Loki cursed under his breath as red warning lights began to flash inside the ship.   
Annie froze. Somehow the reality of how helpless she was suddenly struck her. The idea that all it would take was a hole in one of these walls, and her life would be over. She was going to die out here and no one would ever even know. Pointless, irrelevant...   
“Annalise!” Loki called to her from the panel. “We’re in an asteroid field and the converter has overloaded, I need you to stabilise the ship while I drive.” She couldn’t hear him though except for a vague muffled blur, and sunk against the wall, slowly feeling the air go thin.  
“I... I can’t-“  
“Annalise? Annie?!” His voice sounded strange, like an echo, or the end of a telephone line. “Annie!” The louder he called the less she could hear. The cold abyss called to her and her fingers tightened around the Monolith at her neck, scratching at its chain.   
“You useless piece of junk!” She heard him yell in the distance. Then the book collided with her head. A mixture of leather and metal and over three hundred sheets of paper, and it killed. A cry escaped her lips and a tear tracked down her cheek as she gritted her teeth and staggered to her feet. Head throbbing, but suddenly crystal clear.  
“What do I need to do?” She asked. Her voice still shaking, and the room still swaying.  
“See the hexagonal tube to my left,” Loki called, slightly preoccupied with steering the ship in a remotely straight line. “You need to connect it to the gas supply above your head, it should release the pressure on the converter.” He nodded his head at some rubber tubing in the corner. “I hope so anyway.”  
“O-ok!” Slowly making her way forward, trying desperately not to faint or throw up, she stumbled toward it. The ship lurched and she screamed involuntarily as she reached out for some thing to hold onto. After what seemed like years of fumbling hopelessly with it, the tube clicked into place and the lights returned to normal. Annie sank back to the ground, breathing heavily as the ship continued to lurch about as Loki narrowly avoided several hunks of rock, continuing on at top speed.   
When it finally ended, he collapsed in his chair and let out a nervous laugh of relief.   
“Are you alright?” He called back to her, fiddling with the last few nobs to stick the ship back into autopilot.   
“B- Ba...” She spluttered out.  
“Annalise?” He knelt down next to her and placed a few fingers on her temple.   
“Bastard.” she finally coughed out, the world slowly returning to normal as her breathing evened out.   
“Annalise, you’re bleeding,” he murmured, removing his hand and showing her the blood on his fingers.   
“Who’s fault is that?!” She asked, glaring at him and scooting backwards.  
“I never meant to hurt you,” he said quietly. “I’m sorry, Annalise. Let me see to that cut.” She shrunk away from him again, but when he returned with a makeshift first aid kit, she stayed still as he cleaned the cut and bandaged it.   
“That hurts!” She snapped as he dabbed at it.  
“Forgive me?” He asked hopefully.  
“You hate not being in control,” she murmured, nodding. “And I was being pathetic. I’m sorry.”  
“You’re only human.” He said, helping her to her feet. “And I should have probably thought twice before nearly knocking you out.” For a moment it seemed like he wasn’t going to let go of her hand, but then she glanced down at the floor and he took a step back.   
“That was rather sweet.” She grinned. “Coming from you at least.” He frowned at her again.  
“I can’t believe I had to bring such a pathetic mortal so far.” He sighed and she laughed.   
“Loki?” She asked curiously. “Why don’t you hate me? I swear you thought all humans were beneath you.”  
“You think you’re special?” He scoffed. She remained silent. “I guess I just got to know you. For a human you’re unbearably boring, it almost wasn’t worth trying to manipulate you or toy with you when we first met, so I got a chance to know the version of you that you would show to anyone else. Turns out humans are very similar to Asgardians beneath all that naïvety.”  
“Huh,” she grinned slightly. “So I’m boring then?”  
“Absolutely.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve only Just realise that Heimdall is like Heim and All, because he can see all the nine realms which almost always end in Heim. Heimdall, can see ALL the HEIM’s. I’m I really stupid for not noticing this sooner


	10. Neo Asgard: 10th day

Annie’s third day floating in the middle of space had been relatively uneventful. She’d taught Loki to play cards and been beaten six times in a row before she realised he had been cheating, although apparently it was ‘tactical gameplay’ instead. Not likely. After that she’d gone back to working on her little writing project that still had no real defining features, but was coming along nicely all the same. Loki joined her, scribbling on his own piece of paper, which he still refused to let her see. Eventually she reached out to grab his arm and look for herself, but he stood up to full height and dangled it teasingly just out of her reach. She grinned and pretend to turn away before spinning back and aiming a kick at his shins. She missed.   
“Now that’s hardly a nice thing to do!” He said, taking a decisive step back. She lunged at him but he vanished in front of her, and she tripped and fell flat on her face.   
“No fair!” She climbed back to her feet and flipped her hair out of her face. “What are you even hiding?”  
“What makes you think I’m hiding anything?” He winked and she shot him a deadpan look. Then his face turned more thoughtful, losing its mischievous gleam. “Wait, Annalise.”   
“What?” She asked, watching him in case he tried to trip her again.  
“Your head, it’s healed.” He murmured in disbelief, stepping forward to run his fingers across the spot he’d bandaged the day before. “That’s not normal for humans, is it?” He asked in disbelief.  
“Don’t think so.” She grinned at him. “Now what was in this piece of paper?” She asked herself, unfolding the piece she’d just grabbed out of his pocket and turning her back on him to make it harder to grab back. “Seriously, What is this?” She asked, turning back to show him the squiggles of biro in the centre of the page.   
“Well I thought since you were so interested in Asgard, I’d draw you a picture of it’s king.” He said defiantly. “I’m rather pleased with how it turned out!” She couldn’t tell if he was joking or not.   
“Great...” She scrunched it up and chucked it behind her. Loki frowned again. “Wait... you were serious?!”  
He laughed and she punched him lightly in the shoulder, both grinning.   
“Ah!” He exclaimed. “Here we are. Welcome to Neo Asgard, Annalise.” She ran to the window and beamed out at the planet coming into view in front of them. It wasn’t all gold and silver like in the books, but then she remembered that version of it had been destroyed, and personally decided she liked this version much better. It was all greens and blues, mountains and rivers, much more natural looking than a golden palace.  
“Woah,” she smiled. “Who cares if we’re saving the world, this is awesome enough on its ow-“ suddenly the ship jolted and everything outside the ship lit up gold for a brief second. “Loki... what’s going on.”   
“I’m not sure,” he said slowly. “It seems like Heimdall has refused to open the barrier for us. Why would he...” He glared out at the planet. “He should be able to see us! Have they really chosen to lock me out?! They trust me that little!”  
“Can’t see us...” Annie said slowly, fiddling with the stone at her neck again as she tried to think of something to say to the guy who had just been locked out of his own planet. Sure he’d done some awful stuff but he was trying to do the right thing now (at least she thought so!). If only they could see that. Then it hit her. “Loki, the Monolith, he actually can’t see us!” At first Loki was silent then he let out one small word.   
“Shit.” He sat down dejectedly and let out a deep sigh. “Then we came all this way for nothing.”   
“Can’t we send them a signal or something?” She asked practically.   
“Technically yes...” he said slowly.   
“Then bloody do it!”  
“I refuse to come off as that desperate for Asgard’s aid after they cast me out.” He folded his arms across his chest.  
“Fine, I’ll do it then.” Annie said, getting up and fiddling with anything remotely resembling a communications lever despite Loki’s many protests. One by one she began to accidentally break things until finally he stood up and grabbed her wrist to stop her.   
“Alright!” He conceded. Shoving her gently out of the way he flicked a handful of levers and pressed a button before leaning toward the microphone and saying. “Loki Odinson, Prince of Asgard requesting permission to enter the Atmosphere.” He used possibly the most high and mighty voice she’d ever heard and she tried hard not to laugh at him. There was a short pause while Loki glared viscously at the microphone and then a voice came through the speakers.   
“Permission Granted.” The voice on the other end was very relaxed and almost amused sounding. Loki let out a slight and reluctant sigh of relief as the barrier vanished and the ship moved forward.   
The descent to the planet surface was fairly easy, and if Annie had annoyed the hell out of him by exclaiming over how beautiful the planet was every few seconds, he didn’t let it show. When they finally landed her first move was to race out of the door, only stopping briefly to grab her bag, and almost sprinted head first into someone she recognised from Tv.   
“Omg... you’re Thor.” She murmured to herself. “You didn’t tell me he lost his eye.” She called back to Loki who internally cringed.   
“Brother, what’s going on here?” Thor asked, looking suspiciously at Loki over Annie’s shoulder.  
“I have news,” he said. “We probably need to talk about it in greater length at some point. If you thought Ragnarok was bad, well just trust me. This is worse.”  
“And the girl?” The two seemed to be having some kind of godly staring match with one another. “She looks Midgardian to me, what have you been doing?”  
“Not much,” Loki shrugged, grinning.   
“Idiot!” Thor hoisted a rock off the floor and chucked it half heartedly at his brother’s head, clearly expecting to miss.  
“Wait-!” Annie called instinctively raising her arms above her head to try catch it. She failed and the many Asgardians who had gathered around by now heard the gut wrenching crack as the majority of the bones in her right arm shattered. “Crap that hurts!” She exclaimed, clutching at it.   
“Brother!” Loki snapped, eyes going dark for a minute as he stepped between them.   
“Woah! Don’t kill him!” Annie reached out and placed her good arm on Loki’s wrist, feeling him physically relax at her touch. He stepped back and grabbed her hand, his own cool long fingers stiff with a mix of fear and desperation.   
“I’m deeply sorry,” Thor said to her, Bowing his head in apology.   
“It’s alright,” she said again.   
“Loki, take her to the medical wing would you.” Thor ordered, ushering his people back inside. “I’ll deal with you later.”  
“I’m sorry.” Annie murmured sheepishly.   
“Why?” Thor asked, looking generally confused, but much warmer and friendlier instead of pissed off like before.  
“I... don’t know.” She shrugged. “I guess I did just help a fugitive of the throne crash land a ship on the middle of your kingdom...”  
“Loki isn’t a fugitive.” Thor told her, still seeming confused. “Well, not yet anyway.” He laughed. “Who knows what he’s done since I last saw him.”  
“Sorry again,” she tried to do a small polite bow but had no idea how weird she looked.   
“It’s alright, go.” He gestured with a slight shooing motion, an amused chuckle on his face.  
The buildings were rather impressive for a civilisation which had only existed for about a year. Nothing like the Asgardian Grandeur that was described in stories, but as wooden as they were, the houses and facilities made up an area the size of a small city, and the palace in the centre, was easily as elegant as Buckingham palace back in London.   
“This really is incredible!” Annie exclaimed as Loki lead her down a multitude of hallways decorated with ornate statues of various warriors. He grinned and finally let go of her hand.   
“I really could have killed him back there,” he said quietly. “Thank you.”  
“That Voice again?”  
“Yeah,” he shrugged casually as if it hardly bothered him and kept leading her on, beginning to point out any figures he recognised. Lord Volstagg, Lord Fandral, and other assorted Heroes. He seemed to have known them quite well, and spoke about Asgard’s fallen warriors with a degree of respect.   
“I have to talk business with my relatives, you’ll be ok?” He asked when they reached the medical wing.   
“Go save the world,” she grinned, before being pulled away by half a dozen healers wanting to look at her arm. The medic room was rather boring, and Annie spent most of her time staring pointlessly at the ceiling whilst the they whispered about her in hushed voices, until eventually one of them bound her arm up and showed her to her room which apparently Thor had told them she could have. The room was slightly less boring than the medic wing, with an ornate ceiling and little tapestries carved into the walls, but it wasn’t exactly chock full of surprises either and with her writing arm in a sling, Annie found her self bored again in a matter of minutes. Technically no one had said she wasn’t allowed to leave her room... she smiled to herself and stepped out into the corridor, feeling a little like a kid in an adventure playground. The palace was practically a maze, and at several points Annie felt sure she’d gotten lost until she passed one of the figures Loki had named earlier and relocated herself. So far the palace had been mostly bedrooms of one variety or another, all looking somewhat similar to her own. She wondered to herself who lived there. Were they empty, or were there more guests here than there seemed? After a while she came across a much bigger door, decorated with a mural of a small boy sat reading under a tree and bordered with a pattern of intertwined snakes and symbols vaguely resembling Loki’s helmet. The whole mural was highlighted in a gold paint, clearly reminiscent of the old palace that Ragnarok had destroyed. Inside the room was fairly sparse. Almost empty, yet ornate, bookshelves lined the walls, but the few volumes that did stand on them looked more enticing than any forest or castle. It was almost sad that a room with so much amazing stuff in could be so bare. There was hardly any challenge in finding something spectacular without all the ordinary things to disguise them.   
“There,” she pulled out her one Asgardian book and placed it next to a gold and purple volume that seemed to be emitting violet sparks. “Now this place looks a little more like it’s supposed to.” She smiled to herself.   
“That was a gift you know.” She spun around to see the one Demi God whose name she could actually pronounce leaning against the door frame.   
“Well now I’m giving it back.” She smiled. “This should be a beautiful place someday.”   
“Yeah,” he sighed. “And I must say I approve of my brother’s decorating choices,” he commented glancing around at the green-gold wall paper.”  
“Of course you do,” Annie laughed. “You know you always say Thor hates you but with a room this nice I find that hard to believe.”  
“Well I’m better than his other sibling was.” Loki laughed half heartedly.   
“Which I believe makes you his favourite sibling.” Annie pointed out.   
“But his least favourite brother,” he replied.   
“His only brother.” Annie grabbed his hand gently. “You might think otherwise but siblings are the few people you can rely on to never abandon you. He loves you really.”  
“I abandoned him,” Loki reminded her sullenly. “I invaded his planet, threatened his friends, killed thousands of innocents, tried to kill him many many times. Not to mention usurping the throne. Twice.”  
“You do have a lot of apologising to do.” She laughed trying to lighten the mood.   
“I’m the God of Mischief.” He stated as he stepped away from her and ran his fingers along the dusty shelves. “If I’m not the villain of Thor’s story what does that make me? I tried helping, playing the good guy for once, it changes nothing.”  
“You’ll still be his brother.” Annie reassured him. “And no one worships you guys as gods these days anyway. So really you’re just, Loki: that guy who tried to take over the Earth half a decade ago.”  
“Great,” he sighed.  
“Lighten up,” She said. “It’s not all doom and gloom.”  
“It’s been a long day,” he murmured, walking back toward the door. ”I’m going to my room. I take it you can find your own way back.”  
“Erm... yeah.” She marched straight past him and out into the corridor, before glancing around a little nervously.  
“Lost?” He asked, an I-thought-so look across his face.   
“Erm...yeah.”


	11. Asgard: 11th Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Do you believe in Gods, other worlds outside your own?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I’ve been gone so long!!!! I have no excuse to be honest, but this time I do plan to try finish the whole thing if I can

Someone was screaming; cries of frustration; the cries of someone who knows that they’re dying but won’t give in to the inevitable. Gut wrenching shrieks of pain, of resistance.  
Annie woke with a start, trying to shake off what she was fairly certain had been nothing but an awful dream. She glanced around for a minute, and slowly counted down from ten, listening carefully for any sign that the sound might return. When she couldn’t hear anything else she got up and glanced around the room. A maid had come in last night to give her her nightgown and help her dress (what with her right arm still being bandaged) but it appeared that she had also taken away whatever clothes Annie had brought, replacing them with a variety of Asgardian robes. They were all stunningly beautiful, but at the same time they seemed to have been made for girls with just a tad more cleavage than she possesed. Eventually she picked a pale yellow dress, with semi-adjustable sleeves to try make up for this fact, and after a bit of searching in the back of the wardrobe, found a deep blue shawl to throw over the top so she could feel at least slightly less exposed. Then she headed out into the corridor and wandered around aimlessly until someone was able to point her in the direction of the dining hall. When she entered a couple of people stopped and stared, and she couldn’t help feeling alienated as the only regular human on this planet.   
“Ah! If it isn’t our guest of honour!” Thor boomed from across the room, instantly transforming the suspicious glances to smiles. “Come sit!” He gestured to the spot next to him and began piling food onto his plate. One glance around the room confirmed that Loki was no where to be seen, and so she sat down nervously next to the king of the realm.   
“The food is really good,” she commented, trying to make some sort of conversation.   
“Yes, it is, isn’t it.” Thor grinned, refilling the plate which had been full mere seconds ago.   
“I remember when I first met your brother and we tried to make breakfast.” Annie smiled. “It was awful!”  
“Ah well, Loki thinks everything is awful.” Thor commented. “Never met such a fussy eater in my life.”  
“Can’t argue with you there,” she laughed back, feeling herself relax into the conversation.   
“Annalise, What do you think of my brother?” He asked, looking more thoughtful now. “He blew up half your world, the two of you can’t exactly get along all that well.”  
“Hmm,” she thought on it for a while. You could never really tell with Loki. Some times he seemed almost normal. Just your average, super upbeat, sassy and confident guy. Others he seemed lost... “he’s unpredictable.” She replied.   
“Can’t argue with you there.” Thor laughed. “I like you, you seem trustworthy.”  
“I’m honoured,” Annie bowed her head, smiling a little as she thought back to her mockery of Loki’s fancy talk earlier. Then her eyes caught on a figure making its way slowly across the room, clad in green and black.   
“Loki,” she called, getting up and making her way towards him. He looked dreadful, dark circles under his eyes like half moons on his pasty face. He scratched nervously at the cuffs of his sleeves as his eyes darted around the room, looking for something. “Are you ok?” She asked, stepping up in front of him.   
“I... yeah,” he relaxed a little and grinned, although his smile lacked its usual enthusiasm.   
“Alright,” she smiled back reassuringly, deciding not to push the matter.   
“Brother!” Thor beamed as he walked over to the two of them. “Finally decided to grace us with your presence?”  
“Shut up,” Loki murmured, walking over to a table and grabbing himself a slice of something vaguely resembling a quiche.   
“I was wondering whether the two of you would fancy a tour of the palace grounds?” Thor asked. “You know, if his slovenliness doesn’t need any more beauty sleep.”  
“I said shut up,” Loki groaned, aiming a slightly pathetic punch at his brothers shoulder. Annie laughed a little and he glared back at you. “What’s so funny?”  
“You two are practically demigods, and yet I swear you’re just like me and my siblings.” She grinned and Thor shrugged in agreement.   
“So Annalise,” Thor asked later as he showed the two of them around the courtyard. Apparently Loki had left back when the Asgardians had only just begun to rebuild and really didn’t know his way around the newer parts either. “What do you think of Asgard so far?”  
“Please, just call me Annie,” she smiled. “But Asgard is incredible. To think until recently I never even believed in Gods unless I completely screwed up and was desperate for an easy way out. Kind of stupid I know.”  
“You seem to believe in gods when they’re screwing you,” Loki grinned with a suspiciously knowing look. Annie choked and spun round to aim a kick at his shins.  
“The hell was that supposed to mean?!” She took a deep breath and then turned back to Thor. “Sorry about him, I don’t have a clue what goes through his head sometimes.”  
“I’m used to it,” Thor winked at her.   
“As I was saying,” she turned her back to Loki, essentially cutting him out of the conversation. “To think all this existed here and I never knew it.”  
“You would have liked the real Asgard even more,” the king let a sad smile grace his face. “Where to next?”  
“How about somewhere I can throw the two of you off a cliff?” Loki asked, sarcasm laced through his voice.   
“How about you show us your favourite place?” Annie asked instead.   
“Alright then,” Thor led them across the court yard and down a seemingly endless flight of stairs until they reached a pair of huge ornate doors, images of the original Asgard carved into them. “I don’t usually let people in here. Actually I never let people in here, but I thought you should see it.” Annie watched as he turned to give Loki a meaningful look. The doors opened up into an underground cavern of sorts, crystals and flowers of all colours decorating the walls.   
In the centre of the room stood four figures, back to back but still holding onto each other. The one closest to the door clearly resembled Thor, just younger looking and with longer hair, like the version Annie recognised on tv. He appeared to be carved of wood, but silver highlights coated the entire figure. He was holding hands with two similar figures coated in gold. One identifiable as Loki, and the other and elderly man with one eye. Assumably Odin. The fourth figure, and the only female Annie couldn’t place at all. Loki walked slowly round to the woman and placed a hand on her face, a pained expression in his eyes.  
“I’m leaving,” Loki murmured behind her, turning to march out and slam the door. Thor hardly seemed phased by this, but she dared a worried glance at the doors anyway.  
“Who is she?” Annie asked after a while, having walked around to face the last figurine.   
“Our mother,” Thor said. “She was murdered whilst Loki was serving his prison sentence for his invasion of New York. I sometimes wonder if he blames himself. He loved her more than anyone else.”  
“Oh,” Annie fell quiet.   
“It took a while for us to get back in good terms with each other,” Thor said quietly. “He’s a pain, but he’s my brother, and I missed him.”  
“He said something similar,” Annie replied. “About you guys finally getting along...”  
“We were,” Thor smiled fondly. “When we came here though we were all confronted by a spirit of sorts. It whispered all our darkest fears to us, and Loki hasn’t been the same since.” Thor smiled again. “He’ll get there though, it just takes him a while to come round sometimes.”  
“I guess so,”   
“Annie, I said I’ve never shown anyone this before,” Thor said walking back around towards the door, Annie following him closely. “But Loki seems to trust you, and I’ve never met anyone he trusts. I know it’s a big ask, but will you look out for him for me?”   
“Sure,” she replied. “Besides, Someone has to watch him or Steve us gonna kill him himself.”  
“You know Steve?! How is the old fossil now?” And soon the two were laughing again, leaving the seriousness of that previous conversation behind.   
A few hours later, still getting lost at every turn, Annie ran into Loki again, back at the dining hall which she had been trying to find for over an hour. He was somewhat happily digging into a chicken salad, chatting idly with one or two civilians. He grinned at her as she came in and politely excused himself from his conversation.   
“Look at you, social butterfly.” Annie laughed. “What happened to that Emo teen attitude I’m used to?”  
“Well I am in fact a hero to some of these people.” He boasted. “Unlike you, they value my skill set.”  
“I never said I didn’t value it.” She protested. “I just prefer it when it’s not being used to wreck my planet.”  
“Fair enough.” He shrugged. “Want to have a game of darts or something?”  
“I can’t,” she said simply, lifting her bound up arm.   
“Really?” He raised an eyebrow at her. “Surely you know just as well as I do that it’s healed by now.”  
“What do you mean?” She asked quietly, unraveling the bandages and flexing her wrist gently back and forward. “How’s that possible?”  
“You tell me,” he muttered. “Or not, because it never seemed to cross your mind to tell me you were Aesir.”  
“I’m what?”   
“Aesir,” He said. “You know, Asgardian. As in you belong here more than I do, but no it never became apparent to you that I would be even the slightest bit interested by that fact.”  
“I didn’t...” she took a step back, accidentally knocking someone behind her. She stuttered a muddled apology at him and took another step back. “I swear I didn’t know! How do you know?”  
“I saw it on your medical report when they fixed that arm up. If you don’t believe me, here.” He reached out and grabbed her arm. Running a dinner knife across the back of it. What should have been a cry of pain morphed into a cry of shock as the shallow cut healed over almost instantaneously.  
“Can all the Aesir do that...?” She asked.   
“No,” Loki said bluntly. “They heal faster than humans, but not that fast, it’s probably due to a select gene pool somewhere. Are you seriously telling me you didn’t know?”  
“I’m adopted,” she said calmly. “How was I meant to know that I was something different my whole life? Surely you can sympathise with that?” He let go of her arm and closed his eyes.   
“Sorry.” He said.   
“I guess I’ll forgive you.” She said. “Just put the knife down.”  
“Alright.” He nodded and placed it back on the oak table. “Still want that game of darts?”  
“Sure,” she grinned.   
Obviously Annie lost by about a mile when it came to sport. Confirming her theory that she was even less useful than a sack of potatoes. But Loki was smiling properly for the first time since their arrival in Asgard, so she didn’t really care all that much. When they got bored he even offered to walk her back to her own room without making some kind of snarky comment.   
“Night,” he called, opening the door next to hers and heading inside. Annie stood there for a moment, shocked at herself for not noticing they had adjacent rooms sooner. Then her mind drifted to what Thor had said about Loki being different now, the voice inside the god of mischief’s head and finally the screaming she’d heard the night before. Had that been Loki? Was that why he had looked so awful that morning?   
A guy who had been lied to all his life, had tried and failed to earn respect, had blamed himself for the death of his mother, had to come to terms with being a monster, had to forgive himself for destroying what was left of his home, had to comprehend that after all that his brother still loved him. He had done some awful things in his past, that could make an easy target for whatever spirit had terrorised him. Maybe he really wasn’t as awful as people seemed to think.


	12. Asgard: 12th Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rise of the Valkyrie

The screaming was back again, but this time Annie was awake. She wasn’t sure why, but she’d woken up freezing at what must have been about 2am with an awful sense of foreboding. That’s when it started. Agony and frustration. She tried to block it out, afraid it was all just inside her head. Maybe the spirit Thor had spoken of had finally decided to visit her. She closed her eyes and tried to make it disappear, letting out a cry of frustration when nothing happened. And then it struck her, her cry sounded just like those she could hear. Someone was fighting against their own mind.   
“Loki!” She gasped, racing out her door and placing one hand nervously on his. She knocked slowly and heard the screaming stop. For a moment she backed off, guessing he was alright, but the minute she stepped three feet back she could hear it again, just quieter. This time she knocked more confidently. “I’m coming in,”   
Loki gazed up helplessly at her from where he sat on the floor. He looked hopelessly tired, like someone with a horrible fever. Carefully she sat down next to him and placed a hand in his forehead, feeling him physically relax under her touch.   
“Are you ok?” She asked slowly.   
“Yeah...” he breathed back, glaring slightly at the floor.   
“Ok,” she made to stand up again but one whimper of pain was all it took to have her sitting next to him again. “Is there anything I can do?” She asked hopelessly.   
“Stay.”  
“I shouldn’t...” she smiled apologetically.   
“Please,” he begged. “I don’t want to go back to having my brain in the blender.” He fiddled with the cuffs of his shirt for a while clearly not enjoying this dependency on other people.   
“I’ll grab a book,” she sighed climbing to her feet again. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back.” He stayed silent this time, eyes closed slightly in resignation, and she made sure to lightly touch her fingers to his wrist when she returned.   
“Can you read it out loud?” He asked when she finally returned.   
“Sure.” She smiled, opening it to the first page. “It’s called ‘city of bones’, about a secret race of angelic warriors.”  
“Sounds dull,” he commented, eyes flickering back to normal for a moment.   
“Shush,” She elbowed him slightly before starting to read, putting on ridiculous voices for all the characters. Despite his pessimistic predictions for the story, she definitely spotted Loki smiling out of the corner of her eye a few times.  
When the rising sun started to shine through the crack in the blinds, Annie closed the book and returned to her room, leaving Loki looking equally tired but much less haunted than the day before. On her return to her room, she flopped down on her bed hoping to scrape an hour or so of extra sleep. Unfortunately her extra hour became something closer to five minutes as she heard someone knocking loudly on her door.   
“Come in,” She groaned, assuming it was Loki who would probably just come in anyway. Instead a dark haired woman with a jaunty step wandered in.   
“So this is who you are?” She grinned. “I expected someone that our prince of mischief was so into would be a little more... elegant?”   
“Sorry, who are you?” Annie asked, forcing herself to her feet. “I don’t remember inviting you in.”  
“Actually you just did.” She replied. “His royal muscly highness sent me to watch you for the day since your boyfriend will be indisposed.”  
“I thought you were someone else. And like I just said,” Annie repeated. “Who are you?” She thought for a moment then added, “and what are you on about?”  
“Call me Valkyrie,” Valkyrie replied, wandering around the room and fiddling with what little stuff Annie had brought from home. “This your Brother?” She asked pointing at a picture of Annie’s parents.   
“No, that’s my dad.”  
“He’s cute,” She replied, casually chucking the photo behind her.   
“That’s what my mum said...” Annie groaned. “Literally every day of my life.”  
“So Annalise,”  
“Annie.”   
“Annie then,” Valkyrie corrected herself. “Meet you for breakfast in ten minutes.”  
“I guess so,” Annie complained, shutting the door firmly behind her. And then of course flopping back onto the bed and sighing, unable to help thinking that Valkyrie reminded her of another pious demigod she knew.   
“So why am I spending my day with you now?” She asked twenty minutes later, fully dressed and sat opposite Valkyrie as she stuffed her face.   
“Your little princling has to spend some time on sibling bonding exercises with his brother,” she mumbled through a mouthful of bread. “So the girlfriend falls under my responsibility.”  
“Wait, you’ve got it wrong.” Annie protested.   
“Please, I saw you leaving his room this morning.” Valkyrie grinned widely. “So is the god of mischief really as scrawny as he looks?” She asked leaning across the table.   
“We’re just friends.” She sighed. “I don’t even know if you’d call it that.” Then she thought back to the night before, Loki’s helpless face. He hated being helpless, it was horrible to see. “Yeah, friends I guess.”  
“That’s still more than most people around here,” Valkyrie commented, leaning back in her chair, before getting up and dragging Annie off into the courtyard. “You know barely anyone has ever spoken to your little prince. Except during that incident I guess.”  
“Incident?” Annie asked, curiosity winning over her desire to stay out of Loki’s personal history. “You mean the thing with his parents?”  
“You’ll have to be more specific than that,” Valkyrie laughed. “I think he probably deserves a medal for his number of daddy issues. No, I mean the time when he took over from Odin before Ragnarok happened.” She shrugged. “I wasn’t around so I don’t know all the details, but apparently he made a pretty good king in Asgard itself, just let the rest of the realms erupt into chaos.”  
“Loki, a good king?” Annie laughed. “Good maybe. A king, probably not, he’s a tad power crazy if you ask me.”  
“I do believe there was a giant gold statue of himself set up.” Valkyrie commented. “Come, let’s go.”  
“Where?!” Annie called as the surprisingly strong woman grabbed her by the wrist and led her around the side of a few buildings and off into the surrounding forest. Valkyrie was interesting to say the least. She was pretty tight on details of her own past, but was happy to tell Annie as many stories as she could conjure about Asgard and it’s history. It was most fun when comparing the facts to the myths known on Midgard. Valkyrie seemed particularly amused by the idea of Loki giving birth to Odin’s eight legged horse. When they finally wandered back in the direction of the town, Annie decided she hadn’t minded her rude awakening that morning all that much.  
“Hey, want to watch your princling have his ass handed to him?” She asked.  
“Sounds... interesting.” Annie replied with a smile, having realised long ago that reminding her that Loki wasn’t ‘her’ anything was futile.   
Just as Valkyrie had predicted, Thor and Loki we’re together in the courtyard, supposedly battling one another, although it looked a lot more like Thor repeatedly hitting Loki with a stick whilst he refused to respond.   
“Hey, ice prince!” Valkyrie called, grabbing a decent sized cudgel. “Fight me instead? Your human’s watching.”  
“Fine,” Loki rolled his eyes at her as she stepped in to take Thor’s place.   
“This is not fair!” Thor declared as Loki prepared to actually move.  
“Tough luck brother,” he shrugged. “Magic?” He asked.  
“I don’t particularly mind.” Valkyrie replied. “But if you do use it you’ll have no excuse when you lose.” Loki glared back and gripped his stick tighter.  
“Bring it.”   
The two fought like... well like Gods Annie guessed. They reminded her of a few scenes from the book she’d read Loki, the two jumping high enough to look like they were walking on the moon, yet still moving fast enough she almost couldn’t follow what was happening. It was such a seamless, flowing movement. It was mesmerising.   
“Huh,” Thor muttered next to her. “He’s gotten better at this.” In the next few moves, she watched as Loki feinted left, before striking from underneath, wiping Valkyries legs out from under her. “I’m impressed brother.” He called down to them. Valkyrie frowned for a minute, before climbing back to her feet and downing half a bottle of liquor. Then she smiled again at Annie and shot her an apologetic glance.   
“Nice job,” she called down to Loki, ignoring a very obvious wink from Valkyrie. “You should teach me sometime.”  
“To fight?” Loki scoffed. “No.”  
“Aww come on.” Annie crossed her arms stubbornly. “I’m in the middle of space, for no reason, I should be able to defend myself!”  
“No,” he repeated. “It would be a waste of my time. Besides, why would you need to defend yourself if you have me?”  
“Erm... because you’re more likely to abandon me on a hostile planet out of boredom than fight for me.” She deadpanned.   
“Ah,” Loki took a breath as if he was about to argue, but then let it go and said, “am I really that predictable?” With a slight smirk.  
“You are and you know it.” She jabbed him lightly in the chest, before turning to Thor. “Food now? I take it you guys are hungry?”  
“This is why I like her!” Thor beamed, leading the way back to the dining hall.   
“You seem to get along with everyone.” Loki commented as they ate.  
“Only when I’m on mysterious alien planets.” Annie sighed. “Usually I have to have music in the background to make it through a five minute conversation without feeling unwanted or awkward.”  
“You like music?” He asked a little distractedly as he glared at a piece of meat which refused to stay on his fork.   
“I’m not a crazy fan of it, but it makes nice background noise,” Then she smiled to herself. “Although I think the music you’re thinking of is very different to mine.”  
“Probably,” He said with a grin, as he finally captured that one bit of food. “You humans are strange.”  
“You aliens are strange.”  
“Fair enough,” he smiled. “Annalise, Do you mind being here?”   
“It’s fine,” she reassured him. “It’s like all my childhood fantasies in one trip. Besides, since when do you worry about my well being?”  
“When it’s useful to me,” he let out an evil looking smirk, and she gently pushed him in the arm as she climbed to her feet.   
“Well I’ll still be here tomorrow,” she said. “Just, maybe don’t leave a hyper Valkyrie to wake me this time?”   
“Deal.”


	13. Asgard: 13th Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Baby I know my gospel but I ain’t a preacher,  
> Sorry to burst your bubble but somebody needs to  
> Will that feed your Ego?

When Annie woke up everything ached a little. Then she realised why, she was sitting up against the side of a bed. That was weird in itself, since Annie had never been able to fall asleep whilst sitting up, but what was stranger is that she was able to fall asleep with someone’s incredibly sharp cheekbone digging into her shoulder. Gently she lifted Loki’s head and tried to rebalance it against the bed. It was well before sunrise, but he seemed to be sleeping peacefully, so she silently climbed to her feet and headed out the door. As she closed it she watched him reach out to the spot where she had been sat moments ago. He was kind of... cute? When he was asleep that was. When awake he was still sassy, arrogant and teasing. And maybe still cute she guessed. Then she checked the corridor twice for suspicious people lingering around, and returned to her own room.   
About an hour or so later she heard a knock on her door.   
“If your name is Valkyrie get lost,” she groaned. There was a small chuckle from outside and she watched in frustration as Loki marched in. “Why?” She asked, exasperated. “People already think I’m sleeping with you.”  
“Amusing that these people think I have such low standards.” He chuckled to himself. “Meet me near the stables once you look less like a Zombie, I want to show you something.”   
Annie skipped breakfast this time, choosing not to anger Loki with tardiness instead, and raced straight down to the stables once dressed. At first she couldn’t see the demigod anywhere, but then something came up behind her and nuzzled her in the back. She let out a little cry of shock and spun around to see a huge black horse sniffing at her, Loki sat confidently on its back.   
“You can ride, right?” He asked.   
“Heh... not really.” She mumbled. She had of course ridden when she was younger, but she had always found that the lack of control frightened her, and had quit learning after a bad fall.   
“Thought as much,” he scoffed, reaching a hand down to her. “Well grab hold.” He said when she still didn’t move. When she took it he pulled her up behind him in one fluid movement that Annie was fairly certain should have dislocated her shoulder.   
“You know if you’d warned me this is what we’d be doing I wouldn’t have worn a dress.” She muttered, despite still not having a clue where her jeans had been taken to.   
“Hold on,” he called before booting the horse into a fast trot. Annie squealed before instinctively wrapping both arms around his waist. “Clingy,” he commented, causing her to let go and try hold onto what little of the saddle she could see instead. Eventually they came into a clearing, the horse descended a few steps, which was a truly terrifying experience, and Loki dismounted before attempting to help her.  
“I can do it myself,” she hmphed, before ungracefully and hilariously tumbling from the horse’s back. Once again Loki extended a hand to help her off the floor, but she refused it and dusted her dress off herself. He shrugged and led her into the clearing at which point she let out a little gasp of delight. It looked an awful lot like the cavern Thor had showed her with the royal statues in, only brighter and even more vibrant. “Ok this is kind of cool,” she admitted.   
“Well I promised not to ditch you with Valkyrie,” Loki replied grabbing a book from his pocket, “and this seemed like a better idea than hanging around the palace with my idiotic brother.” He grinned at her leaning against a tree to begin reading.   
Annie followed suit and sat down to pull out a pen and scribble down everything in sight. Once her pen work slowed down a little, she pulled her phone out her bag and put some music on in the background.   
“What’s this?” Loki asked, shuffling next to her and fiddling with her earphone wire.   
“Here,” She said, giving it to him and watching his face scrunch up in confusion as he listened. “It’s called ‘Panic at the Disco’” she said. “Although I think that ‘Ruelle’ might have been more fitting in this setting.”  
“You call this music?” He asked after a little while.   
“Well yes,”  
“Huh,” he smiled to himself and returned the earphone before opening his book and reading again, this time leaning ever-so-slightly against her arm.   
“If you fall asleep again I’m pushing you over.” She said bluntly, but he stayed where he was, purposely shifting his weight to elbow her in the stomach. She grumbled and returned to her writing once again. Only this time her pen seemed to have a mind of its own, ignoring the incredible setting and inspiring her to create a character. Her character was cruel and charming, terrifying and sweet, strong and weak, determined and easily bored. He was tall, with dark hair and a smile that told you he knew exactly what you were thinking at one glance. Then she realised who she’d described and scrunched the paper back up to chuck it across the glade.   
“Littering,” Loki tutted, not looking up from his book. “Come on,” He called getting up and untying his horse. “They’ll be missing you back at the palace, I hear you’re quite the celebrity.”  
“Says the prince,” she scoffed. Then she reached out a hand to stop him leaving. “This was awesome Loki, thank you.” She said smiling at him. “You really can be thoughtful when you want to be.”  
“Ehehehe,” He glanced at the floor and Annie paused for a moment, staring at him in mock horror.  
“Oh my god.” She said quietly. “That was actually adorable.” He remained silent and gazed back at her. “Loki...?” She asked.   
He gently took her hand and stepped a little closer to her. Then the horse butted it’s head between them and Annie laughed, scratching it on the nose. “Thank you too.”   
Loki rolled his eyes and pulled her up behind him again, making another slightly lewd comment as she wrapped her arms instinctively around his waist.   
“Mind if I stop by your room before I turn in tonight?” He asked as they prepared to part ways.   
“That Voice?” Annie asked, “why don’t you just have someone look into it for you? I’m sure if you asked Thor, the medics could-“  
“They wouldn’t help me.” Loki interrupted. “I might be a prince, but I’m still a criminal.” He shrugged, “I’ll be fine.”  
“You shouldn’t be afraid of falling asleep.” She replied bluntly. “Just ask, the worst that can happen is they say no.”  
“And throw me in prison again... but sure!” He laughed sarcastically.   
“I won’t let them.” She said, crossing her arms as a challenge on who could be more stubborn, which for once she was fairly confident she could win.   
“And with a sack of potatoes like you as my defence, I feel extra assured,” he laughed. “Fine, I’ll do it.”  
“That was easy,” she murmured before realising, but Loki either didn’t hear her or didn’t care as he headed down the corridor in search of his brother.   
Despite all his panic Thor seemed delighted to help his brother out, possibly too delighted for Loki who shrank away from his brothers embrace with a look somewhere between embarrassment and disgust. In a matter of minutes, he was dragged off by a medic team and Thor gave Annie a push to follow them. They had Loki lie down on what appeared to be a random table, until they flicked a switch and suddenly it lit up in a brilliant gold. Thousands of particles floated above him, taking on the vague shape of his somewhat disgruntled form. Dispersed among the gold was black too, like a poison or infection, concentrated mostly at his head but still present across the rest of his ethereal form.   
“It appears to be a dormant spirit.” One of them said. “I doubt it’s having much impact on him, but we should extract it just to be sure.” Loki scoffed at the words ‘much impact’ and rolled his eyes at them.  
“Can I try something?” Annie asked, stepping out of the corner she had been observing from. They looked dubious but nodded anyway, and watched as Annie cautiously moved forward to touch the real Loki’s hand. To her delight and slight surprise, it worked and the spirit receded a little. The medics went crazy, desperate to take blood samples and test hypothesise out by having her place her hand on different areas of Loki’s skin. He obviously did not approve of this in the slightest and continually tried to swat the others away.   
“Can’t you just remove the bloody thing already!” He complained as a particularly short nurse tried to remove his shirt. “Instead of treating me like a new species of fungi?!” The nurses simply laughed at him as Annie backed away waiting for him to try destroy the place. Eventually they seemed to have had enough fun messing with the currently powerless god of mischief, and began work on the actual extraction. Annie wasn’t sure quite how long she sat there waiting for it to be over, every few minutes getting up to try direct the spirit in one direction or another. By the time it was over, all Annie wanted was to curl up and go to sleep, Loki had already passed out a couple of hours ago and by this point she was very jealous of him.  
“You’re free to go now,” the medic from before said. “Thank you for your cooperation.”  
“It’s no problem,” Annie yawned back. “What was that spirit in the end?”  
“A remnant of an ancient celestial being,” the medic replied. “It embodied a planet near here until it was killed, maybe about a year ago? We identified it as the celestial Ego. It wanted to take over our Prince and try regain control of the planet.” She smiled. “Thank you for helping us protect our royal line.”  
“Thank you for saving him.” Annie replied, bowing her head slightly and taking her leave, looking forward to her first uninterrupted night of sleep since she reached Asgard.


	14. Asgard: Day 14

Annie finally got the lie in she had been waiting for, and it was glorious! When she eventually decided to get up, the sun was high enough in the sky that it was almost like being back home again. She strolled down to lunch a little early and was almost happy to see the sassy, confident Loki she knew busy taking control of the room, showing off a few magic tricks to anyone willing to watch, and generally declaring his superiority. She smiled to herself and took a seat opposite Thor, before helping herself to lunch.  
“It’s nice to see him back on his feet,” Thor commented, “Although I will have to watch my back a little more now.” He laughed sheepishly, probably thinking back on the million times Loki had double crossed him before.  
“It is nice,” she said, although whole heartedly agreeing that she would need to watch her back. “Things weren’t right before.” The king nodded in agreement.   
“Thank you,” He said, reaching out and clasping her hand. “If there is anything I can do to repay you, please I owe you for what you have done for him.”  
“I really didn’t do anything,” Annie protested for a moment before changing her mind. “Actually, if it’s not much trouble, do you reckon you could take me home at some point? Asgard is incredible, but I have family back home and... well I miss them.” She admitted.  
“If that is your wish,” Thor let out something almost akin to a sigh. “I will gladly escort you back myself. It has been too long.” He beamed again and bowed his head in acknowledgement of her request.  
“Thank you,” she beamed back, before returning to her food, for once content in knowing that she really would survive this whole trip.   
“Hello there brother,” Loki grinned widely as he sat down, looking for the first time in days like he had actually slept well.   
“Someone’s in good spirits,” Thor commented.   
“Ugh, don’t talk to me about spirits.” Loki complained. “That thing has been in my head far too long. It’s the whole reason I went chasing this,” he jabbed at the Monolith still hanging around Annie’s neck.   
“Fair enough, brother.” Thor laughed. “In the meantime, I have a proposition for you.”  
“Enlighten me.” Loki said, leaning on the table in front of him.   
“Annie has asked if we can escort her back to Earth, and if you don’t wish to come with us, I figured it wouldn’t be so bad to leave Asgard under your rule whilst I’m gone.” He smiled at his brother who simply sat there in stunned silence. It was sweet how shocked Loki was to finally be trusted with something this huge. “Obviously I’ll have Heimdall keep an eye on you, and if you try building any more gold statues I-“ Thor began to say.   
“You’re really leaving?” Loki interrupted him, turning to Annie.  
“I’ve done my bit here,” she said. “Saving the universe is your job now,” she smiled at him. “I’ll come visit when intergalactic travel is less likely to result in my untimely death.”  
“You didn’t tell me.” He said bluntly, still looking rather shocked. “Can I- Can I talk to her a minute?” He asked his brother, before ignoring his answer, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her off down a nearby corridor. Thor stared after them, helpless and slightly confused.   
“What was all that for?” She asked the minute they were alone, folding her arms across her chest in defiance. “Your Brother was literally just declaring his trust in-“  
“Don’t leave.” He said bluntly, interrupting once again.  
“Loki, I have to.” She protested, “my family, my home-“  
“Please?” He asked. “I thought you said you loved this place. Why wouldn’t you want to stay?!”  
“I shouldn’t...”  
“I need you,” He said, much quieter this time, refusing to break eye contact. “When you’re around I’m less afraid of... well, of everything! I survived several days without even wanting to kill these idiots because of you.” No matter how hard she tried, Annie simply couldn’t tear herself away from such a piercing gaze. He looked at her with an almost raw honesty.  
“But I thought they got rid of Ego?” She asked suddenly confused. “What do you need me for? I thought you were healed? I’m of no further use to you here.”  
“I need you to be you,” He murmured, still staring at her despite his mind clearly being somewhere far away. “I can’t let you leave me again.”  
“Loki...” the light suddenly dawned on her and her heart skipped a beat as she prayed to herself that she had made a mistake. “There are so many other interesting, amazing, incredible people out there. Why me...?”  
“Don’t worry,” he laughed, “it’s not like I’m in love with you or anything.” She was about to breathe a sigh of relief when he spoke up again. “It’s just... I think I am.”  
“Loki... I don’t-“ she took a nervous step back. This wasn’t right. Loki was the worst candidate for a romance novel ever, she had said it before. This wasn’t supposed to have happened, and honestly... she was a little scared. What if he was trying to manipulate her somehow? What could he possibly want? And what if this wasn’t all a trick...  
“Ah, that’s where you two ran off to,” Thor exclaimed, appearing at the end of the corridor. Loki glared at him viciously, before spinning on his heel and storming off. “Was it something I said?” Thor asked anxiously.   
“What’s the chance of Loki lying?” Annie asked him suddenly, well aware at how stupid her question sounded.  
“Have you met the guy?” Thor asked, laughing a little until he saw the serious look on her face. “Well if it’s you he’s talking to, I doubt it. He’s never been closer to anyone except mother. It wouldn’t really shock me if he was in love with you or something.”  
“Oh,” Annie felt her gut clench as the guilt hit her like a cannonball.   
“I could be wrong,” Thor commented. “As you said, he’s a little unpredictable. And even if he did fall in love, I doubt that would break his unfortunate little habit.”  
“I guess so,” Annie murmured, her mind a million miles away.   
“Did he tell you about your Asgardian heritage?” Thor asked, skilfully changing the subject. Annie nodded. “I may be over stepping, but I was wondering if you’d like your own Asgardian name to take back with you?” He suggested. “Something to remind you that you’ll always be welcome here.”  
“That sounds nice,” she replied, quietly.  
“How about ‘Sigyn’?” Thor asked, clearly having spent a while planning this.   
“What does it mean?” She asked, still a little curious despite conflicted thoughts about Loki.   
“Victorious girl-friend.” Thor replied. “I felt it was fitting for the only person to ever get to call Loki their friend, except me obviously, and you’re a girl so...” he trailed off. “But if you think that’s kind of dumb then I can-“  
“I really like it.” Annie reassured him. “Thank you once again.”  
“It is an honour!” Thor replied. “You’ve always reminded me of the Sister that I should have had. If you didn’t hear, my actual sister kind of blew up Asgard a little.”  
“Yeah,” Annie laughed, “Well, everyone has one bad egg in their family.”  
“I guess so,” He smiled and led her back through to the dining room, and from there she made her own way back to her room. She tried to write something to help collect her thoughts a little, but there was nothing... no matter how hard she tried the only word that rattled inside her brain was hardly a word at all. Loki... what was she supposed to do now?  
That night Loki lay awake again. Annie could hear him through the wall, choking sobs and frustrated yells. The smashing of the occasional pot. She felt sick to her very core with guilt. Maybe Thor had been right, maybe she had done something awful to him that day. Was this really how their journey was going to end... so many times she got up and walked to her own door, ready to open it and try apologise. But then he would go silent, or scream in anger, and all she could really do was back away slowly again. By the time the sun came up she knew she hadn’t slept at all, just sat in her room, shivering and afraid, trying not to cry. Because at the end of the day, what did she have to cry over?

**Author's Note:**

> What do you think so far... like it? Maybe leave a comment, suggestions are always welcome!


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